| Australian
Development Scholarship (ADS)
Students inc. ADS Alumni |
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Damry, a former
ADS student, is a lecturer at Tadulako University in Palu. His
is an ADS
alumni of Australia and has had a long association with Australia.
Damry was born and raised in Palu although he attended secondary school
in South Sulawesi.
The first time he went to study in Australia was with from 1995 to
1997. The second time was under the ADS scheme from 1998 until 2002.
Damry studied animal nutrition at the
University of New England in Armidale, NSW. Many of the world’s
experts in animal nutrition are found in that university.
While he was in Australia he learnt many things especially in his
field of interest - animal science. But he also experienced a different
style of university life. For example one thing that influenced
him very much was how to think critically and how to be productive
in my career. |
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His wife and children went to Australia as a part of the scholarship
program. His three children also went to school in Armadale. The eldest
daughter, Fida, went to Armidale City Public School. She had to use English
of course. It was a bit problem in the early days but it didn’t
take very long for her to fit in and really start to enjoy school. Damry
says that it just took 2 or 3 months for her participate in daily life
and activities at school.
| When Fida came back to Indonesia
she had already mastered speaking and writing in English.
Here is Fida's letter to KGRE dated May 20th, 2004.
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'Hallo KGRE, my name is Fida. I live in Palu Sulawesi
Tengah, Indonesia. I would like to tell you about my primary school
which is
Armidale City Public School. Armidale City Public
School (ACPS) is one of Armidale’s well-known primary school.
It has a large playground and lots of sport equipments. ACPS has
a choir group and has assemblies every Tuesday at 2 o’clock
until 3 o’clock. ACPS also has a couple of musical teachers
for example the violin, clarinet and the recorder and lots more.
We have houses which are Oxley, Cunningham, Sturt and Mitchell.
They divide us when we have sport. And also every Tuesdays on assembly
the house captain announces the winner of the house that week. Before
the long holiday, the teachers take us to go and have a party in
the swimming pool nearby and we spent the day there.
I went to that school when I was in year 2. The first day that
I entered school I didn’t know how to speak English, but my
father’s friends daughter was in the class that I was going
to be put in. so I didn’t have too much trouble. There was
also another Indonesian person, but she was in year three and she
was so nice. Her name was Ika. She introduced me to all of her friends
that was in the same class with her. After about three months, my
English was nearly good and I entered the choir group. With my friends.
When I was in year four, I tried to learn how to play the violin
and my teacher’s name was Emma. She was really nice. When
I was in year 6 I was voted to be the Cunningham’s vice house
captain. When I was about to leave my teacher and my other friends
made a surprise for me. They gave me a photo of themselves a teddy
bear and lots more'.
KGRE wishes to thank Fida for her
wonderful letter and KGRE wishes her all the best for the future. |
| Her name is Howalina Kasim.
A few years ago she studied at UNE – University of New England
in northern New South Wales. She didn’t like English much at
school but managed to learn it quite well anyway. After finishing
high school she studied in agriculture department at Tadulako university.
She soon realized how important English was as most of her research
books were written in English. Howalina applied just once for ADS
and was successful. She went to Australia under the Australian Development
Scholarship program and studied biotechnology in Armidale for two
years.
Howalina learnt many interesting things during her time in Australia.
Many of her newly learnt skills have to do with her interests –
tissue culture, laboratories and chemicals.
She also visited places such as
Movie World and the popular tourist area called the Gold
Coast. So besides just working all day at the university she also
had some time off. |
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Ilyas works in the
agriculture faculty, department of animal husbandry and he specializes
in animal reproduction. He studied at UNE as did several other of
his counterparts at the Tadulako
University in Palu.
Ilyas did a lot of work in Australia related to his research and
the university was totally different to his work environment in
Palu. There was a lot more practical work involved in his studies
with experimentation and research forming the major part of his
work.
Ilyas spent two years in Australia and had to work very hard. All
work was in English so of course that made it even more difficult.
He often worked throughout his weekends with very little time for
pleasure activities however he did manage to visit surrounding tourist
locations such as the beach and Movie World. However Ilyas says
that ADS is not a holiday and if people are thinking about applying
for a scholarship then they must be prepared to work hard before
they leave for Australia AND while they are there.
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Let's hear from some ADS students
who have just completed their Pre-Departure language training and now
are currently studying in Australia
Amirullah is from Lombok and has recently
gone to Australia to take up his Australian Development Scholarship. He
was a lecturer in Muhammadiyah University before going to Australia. His
area of interest is teaching curriculum development especially to young
teachers who work in junior and senior high schools. In Australia, with
support from ADS, he will study at Curtin University of Technology in
Perth.
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Amirullah spoke with KGRE prior to he departure and
he gave this advice to prospective applicants for the ADS program.
He said that the most important thing for people who are applying
this is to have a good academic back background.
They also have to understand how their study in Australia will
be of benefit to their local government activities. It is important
to realise that the lessons learnt in Australia can be applied effectively
when they return to their workplace here in Indonesia.
After Amirullah graduated from the University of Mataram he contacted
one of the ADS alumni from the
University of Technology, Sydney. He gave Amirullah a lot
of information but the most important information was how to fill
application form. If you don’t fill the application form correctly
then there is little chance of being considered for a scholarship.
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Applicants have to provide a lot of background information. You have
to know what and why you want to study in Australia. Applicants need to
have extensive background knowledge about their field of study. What is
the benefit of this area of study for the future of your institution and
also for yourself in the future. Will it have a direct impact on the development
of Indonesia.
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Nurdiana Gaus is
her full name but her friends call her Diana. A native of Makassar,
Diana worked as an assistant lecturer in
Hasanuddin University.
Diana is now at Monash
University in Melbourne studying Education Management. She
is interested in that field because she knows that the knowledge
and experience she learns in Australia will help her to improve
the management of education in her university after she returns
there in two years time. After returning from Australia Diana hopes
that she can contribute something valuable to her university and
this is one of the important aims of the ADS program.
Diana found her 9 month Pre-Departure language course at IALF Bali
very challenging. The most difficult was learning about critical
thinking and analysis because sometimes she felt it was all too
difficult for her. She coped though. She did however really enjoy
learning about the methodology of teaching and learning English.
It was totally different from how she had studied when she was in
university. The teachers at IALF were great because they know how
to teach English effectively to non-native speakers of English.
But it was nto just teaching English in the language sense but
preparing these students for academic English use din Australian
universities. |
| La Ode Muhammad
Deny Razman is from the province of Southeast Sulawesi
and from the town of Kendari as an English teacher at SMU 1 Kendari..
As an ADS student at IALF Bali, he found that learning about critical
thinking was the most challenging for him. Critical thinking is the
way we react and respond to ideas or topics. It means that we do not
just look at them from the surface. They must be assessed or evaluated
deeply and not just accepted as true. what you’re told, maybe
some of the arguments are wrong and so on. This involves a lot of
interesting discussions and Deny really enjoyed that. He also enjoyed
the Farewell Party held at the Australian Consulate the day he finished
his ADS course.
He is now studying
TESOL at Melbourne University. Of course he will also have
time to do other things as well. Some of his plans include to see
exotic animals such as the koala, the platypus and the emu.
His advice for new applicants is simply to check the ADS website,
talk with ADS alumni and make sure your English is of a high
standard.
Deny told KGRE, ‘I think that this is really a golden opportunity
for me especially learning TESOL subject because so far there are
still no TESOL master in Kendari. So I expect that after returning
from Australia I will use my knowledge and skills in English to
improve teaching qualities especially English in Kendari in particular,
and in Southeast Sulawesi in general’. |
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Each year, the Australian Government sponsors people
from Indonesia, along with several other countries, to study in Australia
through Australian Development Scholarships (ADS). The Australian Development
Scholarship program in Indonesia aims to promote private and public sector
human resource development in areas of agreed development priority. This
will be achieved by providing post-graduate scholarships for Indonesians
to study in Australia and by working in close cooperation with the Indonesian
Government to deliver a program which is flexible to Indonesia's changing
training needs.
Nunik Kristiani is Promotions Officer
for ADS in Jakarta. Nunik has worked for ADS since 1999 and is the
person responsible for the promotion of the ADS program all over Indonesia.
Nunik often presents ADS information in English, for example when
she was invited by Sekretaris Wakil President, but presentations are
usually in Bahasa Indonesia. Nunik studied at SMP 1 Kedungwaru and
her senior high school was SMA Negeri Kauman also in Tulungagung.
She attended Universitas Brawijaya. KGRE asked Nunik to explain about
the very basic requirements for ADS for 2004.
'The Academic
requirements are a GPA of at least 2.9. TOEFL scores must be at least
500 or if IELTS then the score must be 5.0. All applicants must be
42 or under 42 years of age. Everybody is invited to apply for ADS
but they have to be Indonesian citizens'. |
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In 2003 applications for ADS were received from 4,624
people. Just over 600 applicants were chosen to proceed onto the interview
stage. The academic interviews and English language test (IELTS) were
held during January 2004. ADS scholarships were awarded to the successful
candidates in February 2004. Their first step is to follow Pre-Departure
Language Training with IALF in Bali or Jakarta. These language courses
can be 6 weeks to 9 months in duration and some begin as early as May.
Then the awardees go to Australia for two years to study in an Australian
university. Good luck to all of them.
If you want to know more about ADS then listen to KGRE during June - August
2004. You will hear interviews with students currently doing their Pre-Departure
Language Training at IALF plus ADS alumni - people who have already gone
to Australia with ADS and returned back here to Indonesia.
On this KGRE webpage in July 2004 you can find out more about some
of the alumni and hear about their experiences.
For full information go to the ADS
website - CLICK HERE
The information is in English and in Bahasa Indonesia.
Also be sure to check the ADS website direct - http://www.adsjakarta.or.id |
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Number and Length of
ADS Scholarships for 2004 - 2005
The number of ADS awards each year will depend on Australian budget
appropriations and is expected to be 300 in 2004/2005.
The scholarships will be allocated as follows
:
2/3 (i.e. 200) will be public category awards and 1/3 (i.e. 100) open
category awards;
an equal number of awards will be offered to men and women.
Up to 33% of scholarships will be awarded to nominated candidates from
agencies involved with AusAID projects or AusAID related activities, including
state universities and other key education institutions in AusAID target
areas, plus linked NGOs and CSOs;
at least 30 percent (100) of awards will be offered to applicants from
the Eastern provinces in line with AusAID’s Country Program Strategy
– East Java, South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara,
West Nusa Tenggara, Papua, Maluku, North Maluku;
90 percent (270) of awards at Masters level and 10 percent (30) at PhD
level;
35 percent of awards (35) in the open category will be allocated to applicants
from private universities; and
6 scholarships will be awarded in the field of Health to applicants normally
resident in Bali.
The length of the ADS scholarship is for the minimum period needed to
complete the award. This is determined by the university.
Return to Archive of AusAID Project Reports
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