The giving of souvenir by Chris Barnes, Australian Consul General (right) to ITS Chancellor Prof. Dr. Ir Mochamad Ashari MEng

ITS Campus, ITS News – In order to strengthen cooperation between Australia and Indonesia, especially with Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), the Australian Consul General, Chris Barnes, visited the ITS campus. During his visit, Chris discussed the issue of education in Surabaya and the programs to be initiated on Monday (5/20).

Cooperation between ITS and Australia itself has been established for a long time and has been inaugurated two years ago. This is not the first time Chris has visited ITS. This time, Chris came to ITS to get acquainted with the ITS Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Ir Mochamad Ashari MEng who was just inaugurated last April. Unexpectedly, the number one person at ITS was also a graduate from Australia.

Located in the Rector’s Room of the ITS Rector Building, the meeting which lasted approximately one hour was also attended by ITS Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs, Prof. Dr. Ir Heru Setyawan M Eng, ITS Secretary, Dr. Dra Agnes Tuti Rumiati M Sc, then Kriyo Sambodho Dr Eng ST MEng and Dr. Eng Trika Pitana ST MSc.

On this occasion, Chris said that the Australian community did not consider Surabaya as an education city. They only know Surabaya is a maritime and industrial city. “While the city of education or students is in Yogyakarta,” he said cordially.

Chris continued, most Australians only know Bali, which is a city of tourism. “It seems that many of them visit Bali more than once, other cities like Surabaya should also be traced,” he said.

Therefore, according to Chris, it is the duty of the Chancellor of ITS to introduce and promote universities in East Java. So that it is expected that many Australian students come to Surabaya to study.

For the future, there are several programs that can work together. Chris said that Australia was holding a New Colombo Plan program. The program is intended for Australian students to be able to study in Indonesia. There are two forms of programs, namely long-term mobility and exchange.

In line with this, this year ITS plans to open an international class. “The plan is that there will be ten departments that carry out this international class,” continued Ashari, ITS Chancellor.

International classes will apply classes with overall English. Then, students are given the opportunity to study abroad such as internships, exchanges, double degrees, and others. So, this program certainly requires a lot of foreign cooperation, one of which is Australia.

Ashari hopes that after this more universities will cooperate with ITS. For him, when cooperation increases, overseas students studying at ITS are also expected to increase. “The hope is that this cooperation will be able to increase international ranking for ITS,” he concluded. (naj/id/herdiana)

Photo with Chris Barnes, Australian Consul General during a visit at ITS