Over 500 Indonesian Students Head to The Netherlands

Over 500 Indonesian students will leave for the Netherlands in pursuit of higher education, according to the Dutch Embassy in Jakarta on Monday.

“Through education, I am optimistic that the bilateral relationship between the two countries will be improved,” Dutch Ambassador to Indonesia Tjeerd F. de Zwaan said in a press statement as quoted by Antara news agency.

The statement says that the students include recipients of Dutch government-sponsored scholarships, namely StuNed, the Netherlands Fellowship Program and the Huygens Scholarship Program.

There are also recipients of Erasmus Mundus and Ford Foundation scholarships as well as those sponsored by the Indonesian Communications and Information Ministry, National Education Ministry and National Development Planning Ministry.

Data from Nuffic Neso Indonesia shows that 65 percent of the students will be pursuing Master's degrees while 28 percent are in undergraduate programs, Antara reported.

On Saturday, Zwaan, Nuffic Neso Indonesia director Marrik Bellen and the Indonesian Foreign Ministry director for Western Europe, Dewa Made Juniarta Sastrawan, officially bid the students farewell in an event in Jakarta, the statement said.

Sumber: The Jakarta Post