Call for stronger education partnerships with Europe

Senior economist Djisman Simandjuntak suggests strengthening educational partnerships between the European Union and Indonesia, particularly in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, to improve the quality of the country's human capital to allow it to better compete in a digitally charged world, reports Jakarta Globe.

"Europe serves as a very important source of knowledge that we can deploy in pursuing our own development interests in Indonesia. However important a market it is for palm oil, footwear, etc, I think the more important thing is to access the 'brain resources' of Europe," Djisman said during a panel discussion titled "European Union and Indonesia: Ever closer partners facing joint economic challenges" at Institut Francais d'Indonésie in Jakarta recently.

"Education in Indonesia, particularly higher education, is dominated by social sciences, including religious studies, while STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] education is very limited," said Djisman, who is also rector of the Prasetiya Mulya Business School.
Full report on the Jakarta Globe site