The Institute of International Education launched a new U.S. – Indonesia Higher Education Consortium yesterday at the annual NAFSA: Association of International Educators conference in St. Louis, MO. The Consortium is a direct result of the U.S. – Indonesia Partnership Program for Study Abroad Capacity (USIPP), a two-year initiative sponsored by the U.S Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and administered by IIE’s Center for International Partnerships in Higher Education from 2010 to 2012.

 

The new USIPP Consortium is a private, bilateral initiative that brings together six U.S. and six Indonesian colleges and universities to collaborate on all forms of academic exchange, including study abroad programs, joint research, student exchange at all academic levels, and faculty exchange. 

 

The current U.S. Consortium members are: Chatham University, Lehigh University, Miami Dade College, Northern Illinois University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Washington. The current Indonesian Consortium members are Airlangga University, Bandung Institute of Technology, Bogor Agricultural Institute, Gadjah Mada University, the Indonesian Institute of the Arts – Yogyakarta, and the University of Indonesia. 

 

The Consortium, which will be led by a rotating bi-national secretariat, includes three main goals in its framework: 

1. To support the 2010 Obama/Yudhoyono U.S. – Indonesia Higher Education Partnership and, in particular, the goal to double the number of Indonesian students going to the U.S. and to triple the number of U.S. students going to Indonesia; 
2. To facilitate the formation of sustainable and mutually beneficial academic partnerships between U.S. and Indonesian institutions; 
3. To increase academic collaboration between the two countries in order to develop future global leaders, engage in cutting-edge research, internationalize faculty, and provide innovative partnership models for the greater higher education community.

While the Consortium will engage in all forms of academic collaboration, undergraduate student mobility, graduate study, and faculty collaboration will initially be particular areas of focus. This work of the consortium builds on innovative new programs developed as a result of the ECA-supported USIPP program, such as the "Democratic Society and Religious Pluralism" program, originally co-developed by Lehigh University, the University of Michigan, and Gadjah Mada University in 2010. 

 

In addition to continuing and growing programs that were developed through the ECA grant, member institutions are diversifying their cooperation through international conferences, faculty research, and new study abroad programs. For example, Miami Dade College and Airlangga University are cooperation to devleop a new short-term Marine Sciences study abroad program this summer for 15 MDC students and two faculty members. 

 

The transition to the USIPP Consortium promises to be a smooth and logical extension of the two years these twelve institutions worked together under the ECA grant. IIE will continue to coordinate and lead Consortium activities for the first year, providing guidance on how to develop international consortia and acting as the main liaison between member institutions. However, member institutions purposely elected to include a rotating bi-national secretariat in the consortium by laws in order to ensure that the group is self-sustaining and interdependent in nature. In the coming years, as the Consortium gains traction, members will look to include additional institutions from both countries that are dedicated to expanding U.S. – Indonesia academic collaboration. 

 

Visit www.iie.org/usipp to learn more about the USIPP Consortium.