[Kabar-indonesia] USAID project promotes RI-U.S. teacher development [5 education reports]

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5 articles: 

- USAID project promotes RI-U.S. teacher development
- UBM launches e-learning
- ITB business school shines on the world stage
- Agriculture Olympic at IPB
- Undip offers scientific journal training

The Jakarta Post 
Sunday, June 25, 2006

USAID project promotes RI-U.S. teacher development

A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Outstanding students generally come from high-caliber learning institutes 
with competent teachers.

Aiming to create competent and professional teachers, especially elementary 
school teachers, 14 Indonesian universities are joining a project that links 
them with three universities from the United States in a project called 
Decentralized Basic Education (DBE) 2.

In the US$4.78 million project, which is funded by the United States Agency 
for International Development (USAID), experts from the universities will 
create modules to provide training to improve teachers' skills and competence.

"The collaboration between U.S. universities and local universities is very 
important to ensure that the teaching modules will meet local needs," USAID 
Mission Director William M. Frej said in the launching of the program at 
Dharmawangsa Hotel, South Jakarta on Tuesday.

Frej said that the involvement of local universities would make the program 
more effective and sustainable since they would take ownership of the program.

DBE 2 will focus on decentralized teacher training, early childhood education 
and university partnership by using information and communication technology, 
school library development and public-private alliances.

The 14 universities were selected because they have teacher-training 
institutes.

The universities are Syahkuala University, Muhamadiyah University and IAIN 
Ar-Raniry Islamic University, all from Aceh, Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa University 
of Banten, and Education University of Indonesia (UPI) of West Java.

Also joining the project are Semarang State University and IAIN Walisongo 
Islamic University, both from Semarang and Sebelas Maret University of Surakarta, 
Central Java; Surabaya State University and IAIN Malang Islamic University, 
both from East Java; Makasar State University and Muhammadiyah University of 
Makassar in South Sulawesi; the Open University (UT), IAIN North Sumatra Islamic 
University and Medan State University.

The three U.S. universities are the University of Pittsburgh, Florida State 
University and the University of Massachusetts.

In the near future, experts from the 14 Indonesian universities will visit 
the U.S. universities to study the American teaching education program.

>From June to August, the three U.S. university partners will visit Indonesia 
and meet their partners and develop action plans for the program.

The first phase of the DBE program includes 538 schools involving more than 
6,000 teachers in seven provinces across the country. 

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The Jakarta Post 
Sunday, June 25, 2006

UBM launches e-learning

Students at Bunda Mulia University's (UBM) North Jakarta campus might 
consider attending class or submitting assignments in person a little old-fashioned.

In cooperation with PT Acer Indonesia and the Singapore-based ASKnLearn Pte. 
Ltd., UBM recently introduced its new e-learning program.

"We are certain the program will get our students to the stage where they can 
compete with students in neighboring countries," UBM deputy rector Anna Maria 
said.

Under a management system called Wislearn, which was provided by ASKnLearn, 
discussions, assignments and lectures can be carried out online.

"Studying is no longer restricted by time or place. We can learn anytime, 
anywhere," Anna Maria said.

The system has been applied at 150 universities in nine Asian countries, 
including the National University of Singapore (NUS), Zhejiang University of China 
and Payap University of Thailand.

Some experts from NUS recently introduced the contents of the program, such 
as information technology security, safeguarding against plagiarism and math, 
to UBM IT staff.

They will also get technical training on the e-learning education method. The 
next new class starts in September.

Meanwhile, with Acer, the university will provide new students in 2006 with 
notebook computers.

The UBM campus has a number of hot spots, so its students can access the 
internet via their notebook computers.

However, the university is not planning on phasing out traditional teaching 
methods altogether.

"Classes are still needed. The e-Learning program supports the other 
education activities here," Anna Maria said.

Besides UBM, several private universities, such as Pelita Harapan University 
(UPH) and Swiss German University (SGU) both in Tangerang, have applied 
similar programs.

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The Jakarta Post 
Sunday, June 25, 2006

ITB business school shines on the world stage

Agung Yoga Sembada, Mia Virnalisi and Prama Imran Chusnun, Students of the 
Bandung Institute of Technology

Despite Indonesia's recent financial and economical troubles, the hope for a 
better future remains within many Indonesians.

This hope can now be strengthened thanks to the recent success of three 
postgraduate students from Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) in the 
internationally recognized e-Strat Challenge 6 business competition sponsored by French 
cosmetics giant, L'Oreal.

The e-Strat Challenge, held since 2000, has steadily gained popularity among 
Indonesian students. The challenge is held online which puts students from all 
around the world in the role of CEO of a struggling virtual cosmetics company.

Their objective is to make a profit against a simulated set of virtual 
opponents.

The participants of the challenge are divided into eight zones worldwide, and 
the top teams from each zone that managed to substantially increase the Share 
Price Index (SPI) of their virtual companies are invited for an all-expenses 
paid trip to the finals in Paris, France to present their business plan and 
"pitch" their companies in front of a board of judges consisting of L'Oreal and 
other respected top European business executives on April 12, 2006.

This configuration allows students from countries all over the world to pit 
their skills against one another to earn one of the eight tickets and battle it 
out in the finals as the representatives of their country. Out of the more 
than 11,000 teams worldwide that competed in this year's challenge, Team 
Paradiso from MBA ITB earned the honor of representing zone 8 (Asia) against teams 
from the other seven zones in the world.

ITB has been long perceived to be among the best institutes for higher 
education in Indonesia. After the decision by the government to reduce the subsidy 
for state universities, ITB founded a business faculty, the School of Business 
and Management (SBM-ITB), at the end of 2003 in an effort to further enhance 
the business skills of the young generation.

Subsequently, ITB's postgraduate management program (MBA-ITB), which was 
founded in 1990, is now under the auspices of the SBM-ITB administration, and has 
widened its focus from operations management to include other disciplines such 
as marketing management and entrepreneurship.

This year's participation in the L'Oreal e-Strat Challenge was a first for 
MBA ITB, and the success of Team Paradiso in representing zone 8 (Asia) out of 
the seven MBA ITB teams competing this year is a matter of tremendous pride for 
ITB, said Wawan Dhewanto, a lecturer in MBA ITB and their chief de mission 
for the finals in Paris.

Team Paradiso earned the right to compete in Paris after ranking first in 
Asia above top universities like Thammasat University of Thailand, INSEAD 
Singapore, and the Indian Institute of Management in Indore, India and second in the 
world rankings, only one place under Instituto Technologico Autonomo de Mexico 
(ITAM).

In the finals, they locked horns with teams from prestigious business schools 
from all over the world such as the London Business School, Publitalia 80, 
Indiana University (Kelley School of Business, USA) and Athens University of 
Economics & Business.

Although the ITB team did not manage to win first place, this world-class 
achievement in business competition still holds great value for ITB which has 
long been associated with excellence in technological fields such as engineering 
and applied science. ITB has supported team Paradiso graciously not only 
academically with special out-of-class tutorials but also morally with an allowance 
for an extra 10-day stay in Paris.

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The Jakarta Post 
Sunday, June 25, 2006

Agriculture Olympic at IPB

The Students Union of the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) will hold the 
2006 Indonesian Agricultural Olympics from 28 July through 30 July.

The Olympics will involve a series of activities, such as a scientific 
writing contest, poster drawing contest, agriculture tour and studium generale.

For the purpose of increasing young people's interest in reading and writing 
about agriculture, the committee is inviting senior high school students 
across the country to participate.

In the studium generale, several speakers, including Minister of Agriculture 
Anton Apriantono, IPB rector Ahmad Ansori Mattjik and former chairman of the 
Indonesian Association of Farmers and Fishermen (HKTI) Siswono Yudohusodo, will 
present papers. 

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The Jakarta Post 
Sunday, June 25, 2006

Undip offers scientific journal training

Diponegoro University (Undip) in Semarang, Central Java, will hold a two-day 
training course on how to run a scientific journal, starting on July 29.

To date in Indonesia, the results of studies are normally only set out in the 
study report, with only a few of them being published in scientific journals.

The committee invited lecturers and researchers to participate in the 
training course, which costs Rp 400,000 per participant.

The participants will receive training from experts on running scientific 
journals, including the director of the National Accreditation Council for 
Scientific Journals, Professor Mien Rivai, council member professor S. Fatimah 
Mu'is, and Undip research division director, Professor Riwanto. 

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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