Brisbane, Jakarta sign Australia’s first Islamic school exchange

Hundreds of high school students will be able to get a taste of life in Indonesia under Australia’s first Islamic student swap program, with the deal to kick off in January.

Classes at Indonesia’s Darunnajah Islamic Boarding School will be part of the swap.

Islamic students and staff will be swapped between campuses in Jakarta and Brisbane under an Australian-first formal agreement signed in Indonesia this week.

The new international exchange program, which is set to start in January, 2025, will see the Islamic College of Brisbane become the first Islamic school outside the UK to officially link with Jakarta’s Darunnajah Islamic Boarding School, which has 22 branches throughout Indonesia.

Students play badminton with Ali Kadri at the Indonesian school. Picture: Contributed

The deal, which was 12 months in the making, followed a meeting last year when representatives from Darunnajah visited Australia.

Islamic College of Brisbane chief executive Ali Kadri, who travelled to Jakarta to finalise the historic deal, said it was an important development in the Brisbane school’s “progressive education”.

“After a series of zoom calls, I was invited to Jakarta last week to formalise the agreement with one of the most modern Islamic campuses in Indonesia,” Mr Kadri said.

“Our campuses align because we also strive to produce ambitious female and male graduates who will contribute to a wider society.”

ICB has already attracted headlines by becoming one of the first schools in the nation to bring ChatGPT into the classroom, and by allowing its students last year to participate in SBS’s provocative three-part television social experiment The Swap.

Brisbane students will be able to attend classes at the Islamic college in Indonesia. Pictures: Contributed

Mr Kadri said ICB, which opened in 1995 and is now one of the state’s fastest growing independent schools, was invited to be the first school in Australia to take part in the exchange program.

The first exchange of Year 10 to 12 students – and possibly staff – will take place in January. Mr Kadri said the exchange would allow Brisbane students and staff to get first-hand experience of similarities and differences between the two countries.

Originally published as Brisbane, Jakarta sign Australia’s first Islamic school exchange