(Photo: U.S. Embassy Jakarta / Rifky Suryadinata)
Minister of Religious Affairs Nazaruddin Umar and U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir on January 8, 2025 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to cooperate in expanding the U.S. State Department’s Fulbright Program, the U.S. government’s most prestigious scholarship program, to institutions and individuals under the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MORA). This MOU follows a letter of intent signed in late 2023 by H.E. Elizabeth Allen, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy, and Prof. Dr. Nizar Ali, Secretary General of MORA, and is part of a larger increase in increase people-to-people exchanges between the United States and Indonesia.
The MOU opens opportunities for Indonesian scholars and students in institutions of secondary or tertiary education under MORA to undertake scholarships for degree or non-degree study or research in the United States, and for American scholars and students to teach or do collaborative research at institutions under MORA. For instance, secondary madrasah or pesantren may invite U.S. Fulbright Student English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) to co-teach English at their institutions. Likewise, lecturers at religious higher education institutions under MORA may apply to do research at a counterpart American university, or students at MORA institutions may apply to do graduate level degree study at a U.S. university with full support.
During the signing, U.S. Ambassador Lakhdhir stated, “We are thrilled to have this partnership, “and I look forward to seeing the impact the Fulbright program will have on MORA institutions and scholars, both in the United States and in Indonesia—as well as the long-term effect it will inevitably have on our two nations.”
“Today, I signed an MOU with the U.S. Ambassador to expand the Fulbright program in Indonesia,” said Minister Umar. “This is part of the Ministry of Religious Affairs’ efforts to continuously broaden scholarship access for students and santri in secondary education institutions under the Ministry, as well as for the academic community of Religious Higher Education Institutions (PTK) to study in the United States.” The minister added, “I am also a Fulbright Scholar and have personally experienced the benefits of this program.”
The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s premier academic exchange program, established in 1947, with active programs in more than 160 countries. The Fulbright Program in Indonesia has been in continual operation since 1952, and it has been managed since 1992 by the American Indonesian Exchange Foundation, or AMINEF / Fulbright Indonesia, a bilateral foundation founded by both governments and governed by a bilateral Board of Management.
See www.aminef.or.id for a full description of Fulbright and other U.S. Department of State-funded programs available in Indonesia.
(Photo: U.S. Embassy Jakarta / Rifky Suryadinata)
(Photo: U.S. Embassy Jakarta / Rifky Suryadinata)
