Market opportunities of indonesia

Demand for overseas education in Indonesia is concentrated, for the most part, in the major cities of Java such as Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya and Sumatra (Medan), as well as, to a lesser extent, in the smaller cities of Semarang and Yogyakarta. Economically, socially and politically, Indonesia remains very much a centralised state and Jakarta is the heart of the economic and social life of the country. With wide access to information it is unsurprising, therefore, that Jakarta provides a large majority of Indonesians choosing the UK as study destination.
A one-year master’s degree course is the Unique Selling Point for Education UK in the Indonesian market with around 60 percent of Indonesia students who continue their study in UK pursuing a Postgraduate programme.
However, competition in this market is getting tougher and we seen for the last two years the number of postgraduate students from Indonesia is declining due to several reasons:
• The competition for Postgraduate programme currently is not only coming from traditional study destination countries such as Australia and USA but also from countries like Japan, Germany and Netherlands where programme deliver in English.
• The cost of study abroad still one of the main issue for most of the students, perception of high cost in UK (study and living) due to higher exchange rate for UK Pound sterling compare to other currencies.
• Increasing quality of higher education in Indonesia through international collaboration and curriculum development, students have a more affordability option to continue their postgraduate degree in Indonesia
It is the undergraduate sector that shows slight growth in the last two years with the increased numbers of National Plus Schools offering IB and A-Level programs that can provide direct entry to the undergraduate program in the UK. There is a potential for this market to develop more in the future. Australia and the USA used to be a dominant position in this market, but Malaysia and Singapore are now becoming more active in the Indonesian market, recruiting undergraduate students and as result now they are the key market in this sector.
The market leaders remain to be USA and Australia, with Germany, Netherlands and Japan grows its popularity among the students at the postgraduate level.
The USA has been recruiting Indonesian students for longer than other competitors. AMINEF provides information on study opportunities in the USA, and 'family tradition', whereby one or other parent or a brother / sister may have attended an American university, is often a major contributory factor in an Indonesian choosing to study there.
Australia makes extensive use of agents, and has geographical proximity to Indonesia (important to parents) and a favourable climate as its main attractions. It support with continuous visits and promotion that Australia University does in Indonesia either by them selves or with the education agents. Australia University also very active in creating link and partnership with Indonesia universities.
In the undergraduate sector besides USA and Australia, alternative destinations such as Malaysia and Singapore remain popular, especially Malaysia, which is able to attract a large number of undergraduate students from Indonesia each year because of their off-shore programme with Australia and UK universities.
In the face of these competitors, encouraging self-funding Indonesians to 'dare to be different' by opting to study in the UK is the kernel of the challenge. It will need intensive promotion of UK Education through different channel (exhibition, education agents and school and university network) to maintain our market share in the future.

Our infrastructure and strategic education priorities
Starting from November 2004, British Council Indonesia moves to a new office located in the main business district area at the Jakarta Stock Exchange Building. There is limited access for visitors and we do not provide any consultation to students or display promotion materials for this reason. Much of our Education UK work now is delivered by working with local partners (education agents, educational institutions and scholarship providers) and visits through Education UK presentations and exhibitions.
As part of our support for the development of higher education in Indonesia and building good partnerships between UK and Indonesian higher institutions, our focus now will be targeted at 50 promising universities that already been identified by the MoNE providing them opportunity for development of programme and research collaboration using PMI2 and DelPHE. Through PMI2 programme and symposium we also want to improve our level of engagement and working relations with policy makers from Ministry of National Education.
Education UK regularly runs two major exhibitions per year, in April and November (for postgraduate programmes only). Major exhibitions are usually held in Jakarta and Bandung. Based on the current review on the service and value for money of British Council exhibition compare to other similar exhibition run by agents we will continue to find complementary activities/services that could support our major exhibition. At the Education UK Postgraduate Exhibition in November 2007 we run UK Alumni Job Fair in Jakarta, trying to build the reputation and creating positive perceptions towards UK qualifications among the major companies and prospective students in Indonesia. The response from the alumni and participating companies were positive and we are aiming to make the Job Fair as the annual event.
We also look for new market opportunity by expanding our reach and activities to major cities outside Java like Makassar, Pekanbaru and Palembang through mini exhibition, institutional visits and attending agents’ exhibition. Activities will be focusing a tighter geographical with possibly large potential students – targeting major Indonesian cities where the prospects for successful recruitment of students seem most promising, thereby delivered an effective approach in the Indonesia market.
A database of 465 high schools and 150 universities in eight major cities in Indonesia has been developed which could be use by UK institution to target specific institutions for promotion and partnership purpose.