Georgia State University has been awarded a $3 million federal grant to launch a dual master’s degree program with an Indonesian university.
The grant comes from the U.S. Agency for International Development‘s Indonesia branch. Georgia State is contributing $1.5 million of its own money toward the program.
Through the two-and-a-half-year program, 30 staff members from the Indonesian Ministry of Finance‘s fiscal policy think tank will earn advanced degrees in applied economics at both Georgia State and Gadjah Mada University, which is located on the island of Java. Students spend a year at Gadjah Mada before coming to Atlanta.
The International Studies program at Georgia State’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies designed the degree track. The program is limited to the Indonesian government workers. The Andrew Young school’s mandate includes building partnerships that help foreign governments develop local expertise.
“One of our big initiatives at our training institute is to build capacity with governments so they can do their own fiscal policy analysis” and not have to rely on consultants or outside contractors, Paul Benson, assistant director of the International Studies program, told GlobalAtlanta.
The school trained 55 Indonesians in a similar program that started in 2002. Seven stayed for doctoral degrees at Georgia State, but most went back to Indonesia to take up teaching jobs or government positions, Mr. Benson said. USAID also funded that program.
Indonesia’s current minister of finance, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, was an Andrew Young School visiting scholar in 2002.
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