A national competition that requires participants to present a thesis in French is currently open for entries.

Held for the second time by the French Institute in Indonesia (IFI), the My Thesis in 180 Seconds (MT180) competition caters to Indonesian doctoral students or graduates who speak French or have studied in France.

In the competition, participants will be asked to present a thesis in French within 180 seconds, using just one presentation slide and simple terms. They will then be judged on their research subject’s quality and originality and how the presentation is conducted.

Nicolas Gascoin, the attaché for cooperation in science and technology at the French Embassy in Indonesia, said the competition aimed to contribute to research in Indonesia as well as help Indonesian researchers find employment. He added that there weren’t many well-known theses presented by Indonesian researchers who speak French.

(Read also: Monolingual bias and English language education in Indonesia)

“Moreover, young researchers are frequently considered over-qualified and thus sometimes struggle to find employment outside of universities. Yet, many large French companies in Indonesia are searching for qualified Indonesians to recruit,” he stated.

Registration for MT180 is open until Feb. 17. The competition’s final will be held in Yogyakarta on May 3, which coincides with the 9th Joint Working Group Indonesian-French Cooperation in Higher Education and Research event.

Last year, Gemala Cempaka Hapsari won the competition in Indonesia. She was awarded Rp 100 million (US$7,489) and given the opportunity to ride on the zero-gravity Airbus A310 ZERO-G.

The doctoral student from Franche-Comté University in France also advanced into the international MT180 competition in Rabat, Morocco. (kes)