Second Anniversary of the Association of Indonesian Students in Serbia KERIS
The Association of Indonesian students in Serbia (KERIS) celebrated in Belgrade the second year of existence.
Indonesian Ambassador to Serbia, Harry James Richard Kandou, welcoming eight persons being honoured at a celebration and their guests, said that the KERIS significantly contributed to the further improvement of communication in the friendly relations of the Serbian citizens and students from Indonesia.
“As an Ambassador, I am very proud and I support the positive efforts of KERIS to further improve education of Indonesians in Serbia and brings together two countries,” said Harry Kandou.
According to the ambassador, the Association of Indonesian students in Serbia could be one of the pillars of connecting cultures of the two countries. “Activities of KERIS can promote friendship between Indonesia and Serbia,” concluded Ambassador Kandou.
President of KERIS Befiboi Rizki Nurkanda reminded that it is an association founded in Belgrade on April 7, 2013, and said that its members were “very happy with our two-year work in Serbia.” “During this time our members have tried to be successful in improving their knowledge of the Serbian language and studying here, as well as in the development of the organization and establishment of better links between Indonesia and Serbia in the field of education and friendship between two countries,” said Nurkanda, who is studying at the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade.
Nurkanda expressed the hope that the members of KERIS will though a variety of events, presentations and conducting various interviews, ” increase the interest of young people from Indonesia to begin studies in Serbia, and also we hope to make young people from Serbia interest in studying in Indonesia and introducing Indonesian culture.”
The first group of students from Indonesia arrived in Yugoslavia in 1960 year. Several hundred of Indonesians in coming decades graduated from the university of that state or has passed through various forms of cooperation between the two countries in education.
The government in Belgrade, in accordance with tradition, launched in 2010 the project “World in Serbia”, which provides scholarships for training of students from Asian, African and Latin American member countries of the Nonaligned Movement in different faculties of the University of Belgrade. It is believed that with the acquired diplomas and multiplied experiences, foreign scholarship holders return to their countries as best promoters of characteristics and value systems in Serbia.
After the first eight months of learning Serbian language, scholars are beginning their studies at selected universities. Members of KERIS are studing at Faculty of medicine, Agriculture, Philology, Electrical Engineering, Economics and the Faculty of Security, or they still take courses of Serbian language.
On the other hand, dozens of young people from Serbia during the past decadehave taken studies in Indonesia within the Darmasiswa program which is available for the students from countries that have diplomatic relations with Indonesia. The program includes learning the Indonesian language (Bahasa), as well as studying the local arts, music and crafts.
The main objective of the program is to promote Darmasiswa, as well as encouraging youth from the World to be interested in learning Indonesian language and culture of Indonesia. The program also needs to contribute strengthening cultural ties and understanding among the countries involved in this type of cooperation.
