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Overseas students, professionals help RI youth go global
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hirty-six Indonesian students and professionals living all around the world grouped under the nonprofit organization Indonesia Mengglobal (IM) are empowering their compatriots to pursue their education and careers abroad.
Founded by Indonesian students at Stanford University in the United States in 2012, the organization believes many Indonesians have the potential to study at world class universities but lack access to information and mentorship with regard to applications and financial assistance.
Members of the organization in Indonesia, Sweden, France, the US and Singapore curate relevant information from fellow Indonesians who have studied and worked abroad and publish their stories on the group’s website.
“We have published more than 1,400 articles, with more than 800 contributors writing for us,” IM event and partnership director Edwin Chandra said during a virtual media visit to The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Edwin said they covered various topics ranging from school reviews, finding scholarships and getting into universities, to applying for internships, working abroad and tips on living and surviving overseas.
“As much as possible, we cover not only Ivy League schools but also universities from all parts of the world, including Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania and Africa,” he said.
Over the next year, he added, IM would diversify its readership by increasing its geographic coverage and publishing more articles on working professionals.
In addition, the group will highlight specific themes, such as beating the odds and making a global impact from within Indonesia, and relevant issues, such as remote working during COVID-19 and celebrating Women’s Day and Antiracism Day.
In the past six years, IM has run a free annual mentorship program to help promising Indonesians to prepare their applications for undergraduate and postgraduate studies.
“We act as the ‘matchmakers’ who connect a selected pool of mentees wishing to study abroad with their mentors who are either students or alumni of international universities,” Edwin said.
The group has assisted more than 350 mentees in its mentorship program, including Nadhira Nuraini Afifa, an Indonesian alumnus of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, the US, who was selected to give the commencement speech to the graduation ceremony in May.
IM also conducts free educational events, including annual sharing sessions on pursuing higher education overseas and regular workshops on skills relevant to education and careers, and participates at various seminars and education fairs.
In 2019, IM participated in 15 events in collaboration with more than 10 key partners, reaching more than 3,000 audience members. So far this year, it has reached about 4,000 audience members at events held virtually.
