Australian and Indonesian Universities Discuss Challenges in Education

More than 150 academics, educational experts and professionals have participated in an education seminar hosted by the Australian Embassy in Jakarta today to discuss current and future challenges in the education sector.

Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Bill Farmer, opened the seminar and welcomed the cooperation between Australian and Indonesian education practitioners.

“Australia and Indonesia have a long tradition of academic and research collaboration and I am pleased to be able to support the sharing of expertise between Australian and Indonesian universities at this seminar today,” said Farmer.

Senior representatives from Australian’s La Trobe University delivered presentations on current issues and challenges for education and language in today’s globalised world.

“The current widespread interest in developing expertise in English and other languages alongside the national language and local languages in Indonesia make a focus on this topic very timely,” said Dr Lynda Yates, Associate Dean (International), La Trobe University.

“Recently we have seen worldwide trends towards bilingual education in an effort to keep up with the communication needs of globalisation,” said Yates.

Meanwhile Professor Vaughan Prain, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Education, outlined the latest understandings of how students learn and implications for effective classroom teaching.

Australian alumnus Dr James Riady, CEO of Lippo Group and founder of Pelita Harapan Educational Foundation, was also a keynote speaker at the seminar.
Dr Riady was presented with the Australian Alumni Award for Entrepreneurship in February 2008.

The seminar was organised by Australian Education International and is part of a regular seminar series presented throughout the year.

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