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o help nurture good relationships between Indonesian and Australian communities, the Australia-Indonesia Institute (AII) is promoting an exchange program for teachers and students from both countries.

Held under the BRIDGE (building relations through intercultural dialogue and growing engagement) program, the activity is aimed at improving the participants’ understanding and knowledge about the counterpart countries.

“This will as well promote the good cooperation between the Indonesian and Australian governments in the future,” Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Greg Moriarty said in Mataram on Thursday.

He visited state senior high school SMAN 5 Mataram.

Moriarty said for over two decades the AII had been serving a unique yet important role in nurturing friendships and mutual understanding between the people of both countries.

Entering a new era in Australia-Indonesia relations, he said, AII activities would bring significance through deeper and wider involvement in various sectors.

SMAN 5 Mataram is one of seven schools in NTB that has been cooperating with Australian schools through the BRIDGE program.

Hanna Birdseye of the AII’s education division said that since established in 2008, the program had seen 96 junior and senior high school teachers from Australia visit Indonesia and 91 from Indonesian visit Australia.

“It involves 46 Australian and 47 Indonesian schools with some 30,000 Australian and around 90,000 Indonesian students,” Birdseye said.

Indonesian teachers sent to Australia through the program will receive training on teaching methods and are given the opportunity to teach at an Australian school. The same also works for Australian teachers sent to Indonesia.

SMAN 5 Mataram headmaster Muhammad Muzaki said he found many positives in the exchange program between his school and the Australian Mallumbimby High School since 2009.

“The most apparent impact is on how our students can learn more about computers and IT,” he said.

AII council chairman Tim Lindsey said Australia and Indonesia had similar characteristics: Multiple ethnicities, multiple religions and rich cultures. “AII keeps promoting friendship and cooperation through educational, social and cultural approaches,” he said.

The BRIDGE program was initiated in 2008 by the AII and the Yayasan Pendidikan Asia with support from the Myer Foundation and AusAID.

The program so far has created 20 online collaborations and online technology trainings and ‘Wikispaces’ at 47 partner schools to support interaction.

Prior to the visit to SMAN 5 Mataram, the ambassador and AII executives also had the chance to meet with NTB Governor Zainul Majdi to discuss further possible cooperation.

The cooperation had so far built at least 149 schools in the province and will rehabilitate over 80 kilometers of state road and build six bridges.

“We will help realize the provincial administration’s program of making NTB the land of a million cows,” Moriarty said.