King's College London Opens Branch In Malang, Operates Next September

JAKARTA - King's College London (KCL) has obtained a campus establishment permit in the Singhasari Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Malang, East Java.

The University of England is ready to start its first school year in September 2024.

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs (Menko Perekonomian) Airlangga Hartarto said the construction of an educational cluster with the KCL college in Malang would encourage superior human resources (HR).

Airlangga added that KCL can also be a liaison for collaboration with surrounding universities, such as Universitas Brawijaya and Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang.

"This synergy is needed to prepare our human resources," said Airlangga at his office, Thursday, June 20.

He said that later KCL would open registration quota for 150 students at the opening of learning operations in September.

"It is hoped that it will become a role model for surrounding universities, such as Universitas Brawijaya and the nearest Muhammadiyah University," he said

Meanwhile, Expert Staff for Digital Transformation, Creativity and Human Resources of the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy Rizal Edwin Manansang hopes that the quality of learning and teaching at KCL Singhasari Malang will replicate the same quality as KCL in London.

"KCL conveyed their commitment to the government to organize higher education in Indonesia, especially at SEZ Singhasari," he said.

As for the initial stage, KCL will hold two study programs, namely the Master of Digital Economy and the Master of Digital Future.

Meanwhile, the construction of the university building initiated by PT Intelegensia Grahatama is scheduled to be completed in July.

"The results of last week's field inspection showed that the second week of the process in June had reached 80 percent," he said.

The government has expanded the development of SEZs to various new sectors, such as education, health and also the digital economy.

Until now, the government has set 22 SEZs, including 11 Manufacturing SEZs, 7 Tourism SEZs, 2 Digital SEZs and 2 other service SEZs.

Since this program was initiated, SEZ has been able to attract investment of IDR 187.5 trillion and absorb up to 126,506 workers and support 351 business actors.