Two senior provincial government figures from Indonesia, the Sultan of Yogyakarta and the Vice-Governor of West Java, have visited Flinders during their time in Adelaide as official guests of the OzAsia Festival.

At Flinders Victoria Square campus this week, His Majesty Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X met with senior staff, academics and students to discuss increasing the province’s already extensive links with Flinders. These  currently include a wide range of shared academic programs and exchanges with Universitas Gadjah Mada and University Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta.

Last week West Java Vice-Governor H. Deddy Mizwar visited the Bedford Park campus and met with professional and academic staff at the pendopo (see picture).

Flinders has formal links with four universities in West Java province and also has an agreement with a regional government agency, and is looking to add collaborative programs that include capacity-building workshops and courses for public servants.

In welcoming the visitors, Pro Vice-Chancellor (International) Professor Cromar outlined the University’s Jembatan Initiative, launched in July this year, which seeks to strengthen the bridge of understanding between communities in South Australia and Indonesia.

At the same time, Professor Cromar said, the whole of the Flinders community is committed to working with our partners across education institutions, government, industry, communities and individuals to create one loud voice to promote the strong Indonesian inter-cultural engagement that already exists in South Australia.