Christopher McCord
Jim Collins
by Tom Parisi
NIU’s Christopher McCord and Jim Collins are members of a U.S. delegation of higher education leaders who are traveling to Indonesia next week to explore opportunities for expanding educational programs.
McCord, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Collins, director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, will arrive Sunday, July 26, and spend six days in Indonesia.
The delegation is proceeding despite the violence in Indonesia this past week.
Delegates will meet with representatives and officials at local universities, the U.S. Embassy, the EducationUSA Center, the Indonesia Ministry of Education and the American Indonesian Exchange Foundation (Fulbright Commission). The group also will meet with current students and alumni of American institutions.
NIU’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies is one of a few federally funded national resource centers for study of the region. The university has a long history of hosting students from Indonesia and boasts at least 60 Indonesian alumni.
“This trip is an opportunity for us to build on all of our existing strengths,” Dean McCord said. “NIU has a long history of engagement with Indonesia. We have been welcoming students from the country for over 40 years, and some of our alumni are now leaders of Indonesian society, including Anies Baswedan, president of Paramadhina Islamic University, and Andi Alfian Mallarangeng, spokesperson for the President of Indonesia.”
NIU faculty members have been active in Indonesia as visiting scholars, researchers and election monitors. The university also regularly hosts visiting faculty from Indonesia and has offered instruction in the Indonesian language since 1967.
By nearly any measure, Indonesia is a country that merits greater attention in the United States. It is a young and increasingly vibrant democracy, the world’s fourth most populous nation and the country with the largest number of Muslims. Indonesia also has the largest economy is Southeast Asia.
Historically, Indonesia has sent a large number of students to study in the United States.
In recent years, however, the numbers have declined and fewer Indonesians attend U.S. colleges and universities today than a decade ago. Far fewer Americans experience study in Indonesia. The future of academic exchange depends heavily on the relationships forged between higher education institutions in Indonesia and the United States.
The U.S. delegation is co-chaired by Gregory L. Geoffroy, president of Iowa State University; Allan Goodman, president and CEO of the Institute of International Education; Ambassador David Merrill, president of the United States-Indonesia Society; and Charles Morrison, president of the East-West Center.