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Indonesian universities seek UNE partnership

October 03, 2006

PollardSondakh.thumb.JPGA former University of New England student, Professor Lefrand Sondakh, returned to Armidale last week as president of a consortium of Indonesian universities and as Rector of Sam Ratulangi University. He led a delegation of five senior academics to seed collaborative arrangements between Australian universities and the consortium of Eastern Indonesia State Universities for mutual benefit.

Sam Ratulangi University is in Manado, capital city of Indonesia’s North Sulawesi Province, and is one of the country’s premier universities. Professor Sondakh, or “Lucky” as he is known, studied at UNE between 1974 and 1982, beginning with a diploma and progressing to a PhD in Agricultural Economics with a thesis titled “Dynamic Programs for Long-term Coconut Replanting in Indonesia.” He lived in Robb College during his first year, and moved into town accommodation when his wife arrived from Indonesia.

Professor Sondakh said it felt good to be back at UNE as president of a university after first arriving as a student more than 30 years ago. “It is UNE I can thank for giving me my academic skills and subsequent achievements,” he said. “I have great respect for the intellectual integrity of UNE scholars and would specially like to thank my UNE supervisor when I was here, Professor Brian Hardaker, UNE has a good international reputation in many fields of study, and while Armidale is a small town it also has a large and supportive international community.”

“I believe in the power of partnership and networking,” he added, “and we should grasp every opportunity to establish good partnerships. I also see it as an opportunity for our governments to get closer together with assistance from academics. Partnerships at university level can help relationships between countries.”

In welcoming the group to UNE, the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Development and International), Professor Robin Pollard, agreed that the visit would present opportunities to develop a partnership for mutual benefit that had potential to promote more intensive cooperation between Australian and Indonesian universities. (Professor Pollard is pictured here with Professor Sondakh.)

“Some universities think short-term and miss many opportunities,” Professor Sondakh said. “UNE, however, is offering a long-term, enduring partnership – we are neighbours with many common reasons to cooperate. I would love to have students from my university come here.

“We want to deal with a high-quality, like-minded university. That is why the Minister for Education asked our group to visit UNE to explore a university-to-university relationship that would benefit both Indonesia and Australia. UNE offers good research opportunities and has resources and a history of support for students, so why wouldn’t we want to make more of that? UNE has the cream of scholars and we want to benefit from their expertise and good standing.”

Posted by Jim Scanlan at October 3, 2006 10:35 AM