This time, UAI travelled to the southern hemisphere of the globe, to Perth, Western Australia. Australia – voted the best country in the word by OECD in 2014, ahead of Norway, Canada and Sweden – has a world class education system and institutions. Murdoch University is an example of Australia’s finest education. It ranked in top 5% of university worldwide based on Times Higher Education (THE) 2013-2014, and QS World University Ranking 2012.
Recent Australian Government audit targeting on research excellence reported that Murdoch University is performing at world class standard (or above) in over 85% of the assessed areas.
I visited Ms. Pearl Chua Kyselicova, the Senior International Relationship Manager of Murdoch University, at 90 South Street Campus, Perth. In this visit I had an additional goal from my usual objectives when visiting International Offices abroad, that is, not only: 1) to introduce and promote UAI; and 2) to search for potential scholarships and research collaborations to UAI faculty members and students; I also visited Ms. Risa Swandari, our staff at the Biology Study Program, UAI, who is currently pursuing her Master Degree of Science at this University.
There are four areas of research priorities at Murdoch University: 1. Primary food production; 2. Climate change, environmental sustainability and adaptation; 3. Human and animal health and welfare; and 4. Future security. For UAI faculty members who are interested to do a collaborative research with the scientists at Murdoch University, KUI has the names of the scientists in charge of each priority, or one may visit its website: http://www.murdoch.edu.au/.
There is good news in term of scholarship! Murdoch University is listed as one of the targeted universities for scholarship from both Indonesian (KEMEN RISTEK and DIKTI) and the Australian governments. Examples of scholarships provided by the Australian government are listed at the end of this note. Ms. Risa Swandari is supported by the AUS-AID scholarship, encouraged through KUI.
One more thing, Pert is a convenient flying distance from Jakarta. It’s only about 5 hours flight, the same duration one takes to fly from Jakarta to Jayapura. I think it is an essential point to be considered, especially for faculty members with small or young children, who would like to do a Ph.D program or to do a joint research at Murdoch University. They could enroll in the program without having to leave their family too far, and with shorter distance it allows more frequent visits. Consider, for example, as a comparison, those who are studying at University of Toronto, in Canada, or Brown University in Washington. To visit Jakarta during the holiday, it would take them about 25 hours of flying time alone.
Murdoch University has world class education and research facilities, with relatively short distance to UAI. It is my hope that this information could help you decide which university you will choose. I would like to thank Ms. Chua for her hospitality, and for providing transport facility to the airport. All the best.
With Ms. Risa Swandari, Staff of Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Al-Azhar Indonesia
Following are some of the links to the Government of Australia scholarships:
http://www.beasiswapascasarjana.com/2015/01/beasiswa-australia-awards-2015-2016.html
http://newinternationalscholarships.com/study-australia-endeavour-scholarships-and-fellowships/