RI STUDENTS ENCOURAGED TO STUDY IN RUSSIA

Jakarta, Jan 20 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian embassy in Moscow is encouraging indonesian students to pursue higher education in Russia with Russian or Indoesian government scholarhips, a spokesman said.
"In order to increase Indonesia- Russia cooperation in education, especially in higher education, we in Moscow encourage Indonesian people to study in Russia." said Antonius Agus Sriyono, the Indonesian embassy's deputy chief of mission, said here Teusday.
One of the considerations for the encouragement was that by studying in Russia, Indonesians can have a balanced orientation between east and west, and not become too America or Australia oriented, he said.
"Another consideration is that Eastern European countries, especially Russia, are not second to the west in science and technology," Sriyono said.
The Russian government was providing scholarships for 35 foreign undergraduate, post-graduate and doctorate students every year.
"Indonesia's Education Ministry also provides scholarships for those who want to study abroad. In 2009, about 1,600 students will have the chance to study abroad, including to Russia," he said.
To increase the number of Indonesian students studying in Russia and of Russian students studying in Indonesia, some Indonesian universities had signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with Saint Petersburg State Polytechnical University in Russia.
"On January 12, the University of Indonesia (UI) signed the MoU and on January 14, the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) also signed it. The cooperation is on lecturer and student exchange, and also on publication of joint research results," Sriyono said, adding that the signing of the MoUd was a good start of the cooperation.
The signing of MoUs by some Indonesiam universities was a follow-up of the 5th Indonesia-Russia Joint Commission meeting in December 2008.
"We hope the bilateral cooperation in education can be increased in the next few years," he said.