Universities eye Indonesia access with FTA

Australian universities could be allowed to open campuses in Indones­ia for the first time, under new proposals.

Australian universities could be allowed to open campuses in Indones­ia for the first time, under proposals to be considered as part of negotiations for a free-trade agreement between the two countries.

Although any for-profit investmen­t in the Indonesian university sector is prohibited by Indonesian law, this may change for the nation’s special economic zones.

Indonesian Trade Minister Tom Lembong arrives in Australia on Tuesday for talks with his counterpart, Steve Ciobo, and the former trade minister and now special trade envoy Andrew Robb. Both sides hope to reach the stage where they can ­announce the start of formal talks towards a deal, and may do so during Mr Lembong’s visit.

Indonesia is in the throes of working out such an agreement with the EU and Indonesia’s President, Joko Widodo, recently­ signalled his country’s interest in joining the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership, of which Australia is a member.

Negotiations with Australia could go on in tandem with such other initiatives.

Although he would not comment directly on the proposal to allow Australian universities into Indonesia, Mr Lembong told The Weekend Australian he had spoken about the matter with other members of the Indon­esian government.

“I’ve said to other ministers that Monash University has a campus in Kuala Lumpur (in Malaysia). So do we want Malaysia to get the Indonesians’ tuition money and living expenses?”

Australia is now the preferred destination for Indonesians studying abroad, with about 17,000 in Australia each year. Of those, about half attend univer­sity and half are enrolled in vocational and technical education.

In a long conversation with The Weekend Australian this week, Mr Lembong attributed the initiative for the trade deal to the visit to Jakarta by Malcolm Turnbull soon after he ousted Tony Abbott as prime minister.

“Prime Minister Turnbull stopped off in Jakarta and he and the President had great personal chemistry,” Mr Lembong said.

“I also clicked with the Prime Minister. Someone, I think it was Andrew Robb, said: ‘Why don’t we do a free-trade agreement?’

“The President is all for it, so that’s why I’m coming to Canberra next week. Let’s see what we can do together.”