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ured by Indonesia’s fast growing young population and economic growth, New Zealand’s Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Steve Joyce sought to boost the number of Indonesian students studying in his country, during his visit to Indonesia this week

 Joyce expressed his interest in providing more opportunities for Indonesian students to study in New Zealand by boosting student exchange programs between the two countries and providing more scholarships for Indonesian students.

“Indonesia is growing very quickly, both population and education-wise, so the potential is there for countries like New Zealand to assist with the training,” Joyce said.

The minister visited Yogyakarta to attend the first formal meeting of the East Asia Education Ministers Summit on Thursday. He is also expected to hold bilateral talks with his Indonesian counterpart Mohammad Nuh, Chinese Vice-Minister of Education Hao Ping and the Australian Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Science and Research Senator Chris Evans.

“I think that this century is the Asian century and it can be much stronger because you have the combination of emerging economic strength plus a growing young population,” he said.

As a first step to building stronger cooperation, the New Zealand government will cooperate more closely with universities in Indonesia by offering student exchange programs as well as 50 scholarships for post-graduate and doctoral programs, including in food science, food technology and geothermal majors this year.

A deal has been struck between New Zealand’s University of Canterbury, the Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) and Gajah Mada University (UGM) recently.

New Zealand’s embassy in Jakarta currently has a partnership arrangement with UGM for joint activities, including in the areas of geothermal energy, disaster mitigation and preparedness, and conflict resolution, supported by funding from New Zealand’s aid program.

According to data from the New Zealand Ministry of Education, 97,294 international students studied in New Zealand last year, only about one-fifth of the 557,425 full-fee paying international students in Australia last year.

The 600 Indonesian students currently in New Zealand accounted for only 600 or 1 percent of the total of international students there, said Joyce. (nad)