VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta (voinews): With around 20,000 registrations annually, Australia is one of the most popular countries for Indonesian students to study in the land of the Kangaroos. In 2009 Valerina Daniel was awarded an Australian Leadership Awards scholarship to continue her masters studies in the field of Master of Communications and MediaStudies at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. She graduated in 2010 with the title of High Distinction. At the launch of the "70 Years Australian Scholarship Campaign in Indonesia" in Jakarta, Friday (3/3), Valerina Daniel admitted that she had a special impression of being able to continue her studies in Australia.

"As a recipient of an Australian scholarship and of course this is an extraordinary experience because this scholarship program is different from other programs, because what I'm going through is not only given the opportunity to learn from the educational side, but also to be developed, for example by working. This scholarship is something that has its own added value compared to other scholarships. And as evidenced by the existence of this scholarship for 70 years, it turns out that many of these alumni have also contributed in their respective fields in government and business. This proves that it is indeed not only in terms of education but also career and life in the future," said Valerina.

Apart from that, Valerina hopes that with this scholarship she can build close relationships, human relations between the people of Indonesia and Australia. Because according to her the most important thing in building relations between the two countries is of course the relationship between humans themselves. She also hopes that the campaign for the 70 year scholarship program can further increase the interest of the Indonesian people to participate in the scholarship program in Australia.

Meanwhile, Fahd Pahdepie, who is also an alumnus graduated from Monash University, Australia, majoring in International Relations, winner of the Outstanding Young Alumnus award at the Australia Alumni Awards in 2017, admitted that the Campaign for 70 Years of Australian Scholarships in Indonesia was an important collaboration to improve communication for alumni. Australia.

"Connection with various alumni of Australian campuses, not only to add to personal career development, but also to become a network that can help each other across sectors. So, there are friends in government, in business and friends in cultural sector. So we have mutual relations among Australian Alumni and at the time it will also become real collaborations that we are doing in various sectors," she said.

In addition, Fahd Pahdepie conveyed that the Australian scholarship program has been participating in developing Indonesia for 70 years. She hopes that the communication network built by fellow alumni can be maintained to become leaders in their respective countries. (AF/ RRIVOI)