President Jose Ramos Horta Admits Campuses In Indonesia Are Favorite Destinations For East Timorese Students

Press conference related to educational cooperation between Atma Jaya Unika and Timor Leste in Jakarta (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The President of Timor Leste, Jose Ramos-Horta, said that campuses in Indonesia are the people's favorite destination for pursuing higher education.

“Every year, our government provides a sizeable education budget for students to continue their higher education. The figure reaches 30 million US dollars," said President Ramos-Horta during his visit to the Atma Jaya Unika Campus in Jakarta, Antara, Thursday, July 21.

He said the budget was intended for the community to continue their higher education to a number of the world's top campuses, including to continue their studies in Indonesia. "Indonesian campuses are our students' favorites," he said.

With this scholarship, his party wants to increase the capacity of human resources in the country. A number of priority areas, including medicine, economics, law, science and technology, to information technology.

On the occasion, he emphasized the good relations that have been well established between Indonesia and Timor Leste, especially in the field of education.

In a public lecture at the campus, Ramos-Horta emphasized the importance of political communication that has a positive impact on the closeness of Timor Leste and Indonesia in the field of education. One of them is by providing scholarships for East Timorese students to study at Atma Jaya Unika.

Atma Jaya Unika Chancellor Dr A Prasetyantoko said his party provided scholarships for 50 students from Timor Leste. A number of other collaborations have been carried out, including student exchanges, research and others.

“The provision of scholarships is an extension of education carried out by Atma Jaya Unika in supporting government programs to the fullest. This is in line with the aspirations of the founder of Atma Jaya, namely Frans Seda, as the founder of Atma Jaya Unika. Good relations between Timor Leste and Atma Jaya Unika will continue with the student exchange program, the Merdeka Learning Campus Merdeka (MBKM) program in the form of real work lectures (KKN) and internships, opportunities for lecturers to teach one to two courses in Timor Leste, said Prasetyantoko.