Indonesian education attaché addresses staff and students

A Cultural and Education attaché at the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Canberra has visited USQ to address staff and students.

Dr Agus Sartono presented Understanding Indonesia: does it really matter?, which focused on the importance of Australia and Indonesia maintaining a healthy relationship and was an initiative of the Indonesian Teacher's Network.

'The presentation was about the relationship between Indonesia and Australia and the need there is to understand each other,' Senior Lecturer in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) at USQ Dr Ann Dashwood said.

'He also discussed the importance of the need for people of both nations to come together through language.

'We had 30 staff and students from international studies, education and business attend and Dr Sartono was pleased to be in the USQ environment and also learn about education at the University.'

Indonesia's economic outlook was also covered in Dr Sartono's presentation.

'The economic future of Indonesia and the position that they will be in by 2050 was talked about and this is something that I am sure Australia will be keeping a close eye on,' Dr Dashwood said.

After only being appointed to the job in Canberra earlier this year, this was Dr Sartono's first visit to the University and he took the opportunity to unveil a new scholarship program that could link with USQ.

'The Indonesian Government wants to promote cultural exchange and a way for them to do that is by offering scholarships to Indonesian postgraduate students to study in Australia.

'At USQ we are interested in taking some of these scholarships up and is something that we are looking into.'

While in Toowoomba, Dr Sartono was also given an insight into some of the cities schools.

'He visited Darling Heights State School and Harristown State High School,' Dr Dashwood said.

'While at the schools he spoke to students about studying languages and some of the differences there are between the Australian and Indonesian education systems.'

Media Contact: Josh Ada, USQ Media, +61 7 4631 1628