The lure of studying abroad

By K. Basrie

As in past years, Jakarta and other big cities have been flooded with advertisements and exhibitions about overseas universities with a clear market target: Indonesians fresh out of high school. The following reports, including those on Page 8 and 9, by The Jakarta Post editorial staff, indicate that education has become a vital industry for many advanced countries.

JAKARTA (JP): Since the middle of the 1990s, university operators and education institutions overseas, particularly in western countries, have treated students from Asia like the golden children.

It's not because they are smart, disciplined or even talented, but more because their presence could rescue many universities and institutions there from total bankruptcy.

According to sociologist Ariel Heryanto, who teaches at the Institute of Asian Languages and Societies at the University of Melbourne, the presence of the golden children from Asia, including Indonesia, allow the school operators "to replenish their drying up cash to survive".

Noted education observer Muchtar Buchori said that the aggressiveness of the foreign institutions to sell their programs abroad is due to the fact that the local markets in their respective countries have become stagnant.

"Besides, they see the education system in Indonesia cannot yet produce qualified education," Muchtar said.

Much more, he went on, the foreign operators believe that there are still a few Indonesians able to spend extra money to study overseas.

Indonesia, home to over 200 million people of which some 35 percent are aged between 19 and 39, is of course a potential market for this growing industry.

In the past few years, foreign university operators through their agents or "consultants" here have incessantly teased the big market via alluring advertisements and exhibitions with a bunch of promises.

They, for example, offer study programs focusing on skills and knowledge which are relevant to the job market worldwide. Some pledge that their programs provide access to job providers.

For the operators -- mostly from Australia, the UK, the U.S., Singapore and Canada -- Indonesia, despite the poor economic growth, the dwindling value of the rupiah and the endless political uncertainties, still has a lot of wealthy people who are prepared to send their children abroad to continue their studies.

Some of them have opened shop in Indonesia through investment and joint cooperation schemes with local partners to catch the growing overseas-oriented students.

The Swiss German University (SGU) in Bumi Serpong Damai residential complex in Tangerang and several departments at the University of Indonesia that are affiliated with foreign universities are just two examples. Pelita Harapan University (UPH), also in Tangerang, has even managed to lure foreign students. Currently, 64 of its 3,000 students are foreign nationals.

Many foreign universities, like Australia's Monash University, initially planned to build a campus here but canceled their plans due to the unfriendly situation in this country.

In terms of cost, studying inside the country is of course much cheaper than studying overseas, especially when considering the depreciation of the rupiah.

For the graduate (S-1) level, it costs a student an average of A$10,000 (Rp 60 million) per year in Australia, or US$10,000 (Rp 110 million) in the States.

Here, at SGU, for instance, the annual school fee is about US$4,000.

But of course students and parents have their own reasons for the schools and countries that they choose.

Obtaining certificates from overseas institutions is not only a trend for many Indonesians; it has also been proven that overseas graduates here are far more respected than those who graduate locally.

Those with diplomas issued by internationally acclaimed universities -- such as Berkeley, Chicago and Harvard in the States, the Sorbonne in France, the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics in the UK -- have higher status and demand higher salaries.

One basic motive for many people to continue their education abroad is the fact that studying at local universities here only teaches students to memorize and follow what their lecturers say.

It is believed that studying at overseas universities leads students to be self-motivated and more innovative.

Another reason is that many state universities here treat Chinese-Indonesian students unfairly. The institutions, for example, limit the number of Chinese-Indonesians.

"There's no fair competition here and, sadly, the unhealthy competition starts at the university level," Roem, who sold his house to finance his only son's studies in New Zealand, said.

"Can you imagine (the quality of) our society and government if universities, which should promote fairness, act so unjustly?" he asked.

It is therefore no surprise that the number of students going overseas has shown no significant drop in the past three years despite the grip the economic crisis still has on the country, plus the continuous heated political situation.

In the past few years, universities in countries like Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and China have also become a favorite choice for many Indonesian students. It's not only due to the close proximity but also to meet the market demand in the country.

In the meantime, one of the up and coming programs among fresh high school graduates is IT. In many universities in Australia and Singapore, IT programs have become a popular subject besides economics and business.

Unlike governments in other countries in the region, the government here has never placed top priority on education, an oversight which in the long run might not do much for Indonesia's future.

Only very few of the average of 15,000 Indonesians who leave the country for higher education every year are sponsored by the government. Most of them are self-funded.

In comparison, neighboring country Malaysia, home to 20 million people, finances about 50,000 PhD candidates to the U.S. and United Kingdom per annum.

With Japan's advancement in past decades, it comes as no surprise to learn that the number of Japanese students in the States is 13 times higher than the 20,000 Indonesian students there.

Perhaps there are several reasons behind the Indonesian government's attitude. Only time will tell.