The New Colombo Plan (NCP) Alumni Program recently provided an opportunity for NCP alumni and Australia Awards students from Indonesia to discuss the Australia-Indonesia relationship with Dr Steven Barraclough, Minister-Counsellor from the Australian Embassy in Jakarta.

The students shared their conceptions of Indonesia and Australia before taking up their studies, and how these had been transformed by living and studying in each country.

NCP alumni emphasised the importance of travelling beyond the big cities in Indonesia to get a fuller sense of the country and its peoples. Australia Awards students noted the influence of the media in creating perceptions about each country that were often misinformed.

The roundtable discussion emphasised the importance of sharing some of the 'small stories' that reflected the nature of the bilateral relationship beyond that of the big media stories or formal government interactions.

Launched in 2014, the New Colombo Plan is already supporting around 17,500 students to live, study and undertake work placements across the Indo-Pacific. Over 3,000 Australian undergraduates are studying in Indonesia through the first four years of the NCP.

The New Colombo Plan complements the Australia Awards program to create a genuine two-way exchange of students between Australia and our region.

The New Colombo Plan alumni program provides a number of mechanisms to assist alumni to maintain a connection to the New Colombo Plan, each other and the Indo-Pacific by offering access to networking events, professional development and mentoring opportunities – such as this event. For further opportunities to be offered by the NCP alumni program in the future, please keep an eye out on our LinkedIn page and please keep your contact details (email, phone and residential address) up to date on the Global Alumni Website so that the NCP secretariat can stay in touch with you too.