Universitas Indonesia (UI), which was appointed as the lead institution in the Partnership in Research Indonesia and Melbourne (PRIME) Program, accompanied a delegation from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemdikbudristek) to visit the University of Melbourne, Australia, Friday (10/02). The UI team was led by Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Abdul Haris as the Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering Prof. Dr. Heri Hermansyah, Director of Research and Development of UI Munawar Khalil, Ph.D. who also acts as the Head of Technical Team of Project Management Officer (PMO) PRIME, Andriansjah, Ph.D. (the Head of Research Planning and Development Sub-Directorate, UI Research and Development Directorate) as the Coordinator of Evaluation Monitoring for PMO PRIME, and Suminto (the Director of Administration, Data and Research and Innovation Product Management of UI) as the consortium coordinator. The visit was attended by Prof. Ir. Nizam, M.Sc., DIC, Ph.D. as the Director General of Higher Education, Research, and Technology, Kemendikbudristek, and Dr. M. Sofwan Effendi as the Director of Resources, Kemendikbudristek.
During the visit, the PMO PRIME delegates from UI and Kemendikbudristek were welcomed by Rector of University of Melbourne Prof. Duncan Maskell, Prof. Michael Wesley (Deputy Vice Chancellor International, University of Melbourne), Prof. Vedi Hadiz (Assitant Deputy Vice Chancellor International), as well as executives from University of Melbourne in the Chancellery Building, University of Melbourne. The PMO PRIME team reported the results of the assessment by the co-Principal consortium investigators of PRIME at University of Melbourne on the progress of research activities carried out in the first year of funding. In this program, there are a total of 6 research projects consisting of 5 projects in the Health sector (PRIME-Health) and 1 project in the social and humanities fields (PRIME-Social).
Munawar Khalil said that the evaluation results of PRIME research activities funded by the Education Fund Management Institution (LPDP) had gone very well. The consortium of research teams consisting of three state universities with legal entity status in Indonesia (UI, Universitas Gajah Mada, and Universitas Airlangga) in collaboration with University of Melbourne has successfully met all of the promised targets. In addition, University of Melbourne’s in-kind contribution of a total of AUD 200,000 to support research collaboration has also been well realized in the form of providing various workshop activities, data collection, analysis, and others. He also said that so far there have been two Indonesian students enrolled in University of Melbourne’s doctoral program with funding assistance from Australian Awards and LPDP who will be part of the research activities in this PRIME program.
Furthermore, Prof. Abdul Haris expressed his deepest appreciation to Kemendikbudristek, LPDP, and University of Melbourne for running the PRIME Program. The evaluation results for the first year of the PRIME program proved that the cooperation and collaboration of research teams at UI, UGM, Unair, and University of Melbourne is the main key to producing excellent and impactful research and innovation products. Prof. Haris emphasized that UI is always committed to supporting and playing an active role so that this two-way and cross-disciplinary collaboration can continue and get stronger. By looking at the success of PRIME-Health and PRIME-Social, Prof. Haris hopes that this partnership can also be expanded into other fields such as engineering through PRIME-Engineering and science through PRIME-Science.
Rector of University of Melbourne Prof. Duncan Makell said that this collaboration is an important part of the University of Melbourne’s strategy to work with governments and institutions around the world to build stronger relationships and strengthen learning and research capabilities. Prof. Duncan Maskell said that working with Kemendikbudristek and universities in Indonesia is an important strategy to strengthen global relationships and promote high-quality education and research. “We are very keen to work with Kemendikbudristek to help build higher education capacity and increase student and staff mobility between the two institutions,” said Prof Duncan.
Kemendikbudristek welcomed this collaboration eagerly. According to Prof. Nizam, “We are very pleased to work with University of Melbourne to strengthen higher education and research capacities in Indonesia. This is a great opportunity to share knowledge and experience and promote mutually beneficial cooperation. We are confident that this collaboration will help build a brighter future for higher education and research in Indonesia.”
Furthermore, Prof. Nizam said that all parties agreed to enrich a more comprehensive collaboration that does not only rely on research collaboration but also two-way cooperation in the field of education through double degree and diploma level programs to staff exchanges. Besides that, Prof. Nizam also believes that this mutual cooperation needs to be expanded to other strategic areas such as Engineering and Science.
