Uni of Newcastle commits to Asia, and to teaching Indonesian

The University of Newcastle is launching a new Indonesian language course, resisting the trend away from teaching Indonesian.

A street food stall in Jakarta: The University of Newcastle hopes its Indonesian language students will get the opportunity to continue their course in country.

The University of Newcastle will introduce a new introductory Indonesian language course, a move which resists the long decline in teaching Bahasa Indonesia, the language of Australia’s largest neighbour.

The new first year Indonesian course, which students can take as part of a bachelor degree or a diploma of languages, is seen by the university as part of its focus on the Asia-Pacific.

“There’s probably no country more important to Australia (than Indonesia) in the future,” said John Fischetti, the university’s pro vice-chancellor (human and social futures). citing its 270 million people, its diverse cultures and its proximity to Australia.

However despite Indonesia’s obvious significance, the teaching of Bahasa Indonesia in Australian schools and universities has been trending downwards for decades.

The course, elementary Indonesian, begins in first semester this year in face-to-face classes, and Professor Fischetti said he hoped it would attract about 20 students in its first cohort.

He said the course would benefit students in many fields of study who wanted more understanding of Australia’s large neighbouring country.

“It starts by understanding culture and language,” he said.

Students choosing the Indonesian language course will benefit from paying the lowest level of student fees – 40 per cent less than the fees applying in 2020 before the federal government’s new university fee structure took effect last year.

As the Indonesian course develops the University of Newcastle hopes to offer students the ability to continue their Indonesian language study in Indonesia. It is considering joining the Australian Consortium for In-Country Indonesian Studies, a group of universities which arranges study programs in Indonesia for Australian students with the backing of the federal government’s New Colombo Plan.

University of Newcastle deputy vice-chancellor (global) Kent Anderson said the Indonesian course fits into the university’s new ten year plan which commits to engagement in the Asia-Pacific region and to offering students a “truly global experience”.

“In its hey day, Indonesian and the Japanese language (teaching in Australian universities) was by far the best in the world,” Professor Anderson said.

“We’ve fallen away on the Indonesian. The hope is that we are re-engaging with Indonesia as we need to.”

The new University of Newcastle Indonesian language course comes as other universities are increasing their engagement with Indonesia.

Monash University opened a campus in Jakarta last year which teaches postgraduate courses in data science, public policy and management, business innovation and urban design.

And CQUniversity has just held a graduation ceremony in Jakarta for its first group of Jakarta-based graduates. They earned dual master of management and master of business administration degrees, co-delivered by CQUniversity’s Australian lecturers and Universitas Bakrie.

CQUniversity is planning to open a campus in Medan, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra which will deliver undergraduate, postgraduate, research and PhD programs.