The Indonesian government, through the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology (Kemdiktisaintek), is strengthening strategic collaboration with the United Kingdom in higher education and research. This effort was marked by a courtesy visit from UK Ambassador to Indonesia and Timor Leste, Dominic Jermey, to the Ministry in Jakarta. Ambassador Dominic affirmed the UK’s commitment to supporting education cooperation as part of the strategic partnership agreed upon by President Prabowo Subianto and the British Prime Minister. He emphasized the need to expand collaboration into key areas such as food security, health, renewable energy, and maritime affairs. UK universities like Lancaster University and King’s College London are also expanding operations in Indonesia, with more institutions expressing interest in joint programs.
Minister Brian Yuliarto responded positively, encouraging co-funded joint research and proposing the formation of research consortia involving local and foreign universities, as well as industry partners. He stressed the importance of applied research that directly addresses industrial needs and highlighted the urgent need to increase the number of PhD-qualified lecturers in Indonesia—currently only 25% of the 300,000 lecturers hold doctoral degrees. To address this, the government is promoting accelerated PhD programs and international master’s programs through joint and double degree schemes. Minister Brian also proposed short, intensive collaborative master’s programs for executives from industry and government, co-taught by Indonesian and British university lecturers, in line with the president’s goal to cultivate leaders with strong strategic capacity in national economic and financial sectors.
