Students to start rural internship

JAKARTA (JP): One hundred forty students from three prestigious state universities will descend on the tiny districts of Jonggol and Cariu in Bogor today to start a rural internship program, the University of Indonesia (UI) announced yesterday.

The main theme of the program, known by the Indonesian acronyms KKN, is to help prepare villagers for environmentally friendly development, the university said in a statement.

Taking part are students from UI, the Bogor Institute of Agriculture and the Bandung Institute of Technology.

Minister of Transmigration Siswono Yudohusodo will attend the send-off ceremony at the University of Indonesia campus in Depok, south of here. Rector M.K. Tadjuddin will head the ceremony and will present the students to Bogor Regent Eddy Yoso Martadipura.

The 140 students are divided into two groups.

The first, with 60 participants, comprises students from the three universities under a three-year integrated KKN program. The other is made up entirely of UI students.

Siswono will also inaugurate a green house and an herbal plant research center, both of which are expected to support the students' rural internship program. The two facilities will be administered by the UI Community Service. (04)