Singhasari SEZ Partners with Prestigious Indian Business School

The Indonesian government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) to cooperate in the field of education at the Singhasari digital economy and education Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in East Java. “Today we are holding the signing ceremony of the MoU between the Singhasari SEZ, which has been operating in the education and digital economy sectors, as a marker that this cooperation between the Singhasari SEZ and IIMB will commence,” said Susiwijono Moegiarso, Secretary of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, during a press conference in Jakarta on Monday (6/7/2026). Susi stated that the signing of the MoU complements existing educational cooperation in the SEZ with other institutions. “This complements several higher education partnerships already in place at the Singhasari SEZ, such as with King’s College London, which already has two educational programmes, one in digital economy and the other in digital future,” Susi noted. Furthermore, Susi revealed that the government had also held meetings with two other universities, one from Liverpool and Imperial College London, a few weeks prior. David Santoso, President Director of PT Intelegensia Grahatama, explained that the establishment of the Singhasari SEZ, which is specifically for education, carries the title Human Development Zone. This means that human resource development extends beyond formal education to include job training and vocational programmes. In an effort to achieve its vision as a quality human resource development zone, the Singhasari SEZ is partnering with leading world universities. David also clarified that the Singhasari SEZ operates on a non-competing basis, meaning that partner institutions will not compete with each other’s academic departments. “For formal degree programmes, they will be made non-competing. So if one university has already established a programme, it will not clash or compete with other programmes. We want a non-competing environment in the Singhasari SEZ so that the nature is complementary,” David said during the press conference. Jitamitra Desai, Chair of Excellence & Professor at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, explained that his institution has several core courses influencing strategy, operations, decision-making, analytics, finance, and marketing. “We will also generally teach courses on technology, including digital transformation, artificial intelligence (AI), wisdom intelligence, global corporations, climate, and health,” Jitamitra stated. “Therefore, I can say without hesitation that we are grateful to the Indonesian government for your trust in IIMB,” he added. Those also present at the MoU signing included Secretary of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs Susiwijono, Indian Ambassador to Indonesia Sandeep Chakravorty, IIMB Senior Professor/Rector Dinesh Kumar Unnikrishna, and CEO of PT Intelegensia Grahatama David Santoso.