AIT proposed to have a joint master’s degree program with two top universities in Indonesia -- Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), and the Universitas Gadjah Mada Indonesia with funding to be provided by the Bureau of Planning and International Cooperation, Ministry of National Education (MNE). MNE plans to send as many as 4000 lecturers (today only 400) for higher studies abroad, starting from 2008. The program aims to share experiences amongst the top national universities in Indonesia as well as international institutions.
The proposal was discussed at a meeting following a dinner reception hosted in Bangkok by AIT trustee H.E. Mr. Ibrahim Yusuf, Ambassador of Indonesia in honour of H.E. Prof. Dr. Bambang Sudibyo, Minister of National Education, on 8 July 2007. The reception was also attended by AIT alumnus Prof. Ir. Sudjarwadi, Rector of the Universitas Gadjah Mada Indonesia and an AIT alumnus; Prof. Dr. Dodi Nandika, Secretary-General, Ministry of National Education; and Dr. Ir. Gatot Hari Priowirjanto, Head, Bureau of Planning and International Cooperation, Ministry of National Education. Mr. Sanjeev Jayasinghe, AIT Fund Raising Campaign Director, also joined AIT President at the reception as well as in the meeting with Prof. Ir. Sudjarwadi and Dr. Ir. Gatot following the reception.
According to the proposed joint master’s degree program, the actual tuition fees will be charged by each institution. Students are expected to spend 7-8 months at each three institutions and will receive a degree that would bear the signatures of the heads of all three partner institutions. The other option to be discussed further is that the students need to spend one year at the two universities in Indonesia and one year at AIT.
The Ministry of National Education agreed to provide all three institutions with the Ministry's list of priority fields in order to match what can be offered at each institution. The Universitas Gadjah Mada Indonesia is keen on starting the program in the field of transportation at Gaja Madah. Likewise, AIT and ITB would also need to identify and decide their respective fields once the list is received. The Ministry expects to launch this cooperative program as early as September 2007, while Gaja Madah is ready to start the program in September and AIT could target to offer the program by August 2008.
All three institutions would need to immediately appoint a working group and initially start with 1-2 fields, develop it make it a success and then expand it further. The working group would need to identify the areas / fields develop the modality of the curriculum, course content, credit requirement, tuition costs, board lodging, bursary etc, and forward the proposal to Dr Gatot. A detailed proposal for each partner institution could then be further developed in consultation and agreement with all three institutions.