The IAD, aimed at boosting people-to-people links between the two countries, comes on the back of Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s earlier announcement of a Ken Henry-led White Paper, Australia in the Asian Century, examining ways that Australia can best engage with and benefit from the economic growth of Asia — including Indonesia. One issue relevant to the IAD, and which the White Paper will undoubtedly confront in its inquiry, is the appalling state of Indonesian language learning in Australia.
Federal government figures report that between 2005 and 2008 less than 1 per cent of Year 12 students in Australia were enrolled in Indonesian language courses. Additionally, Murdoch University research released this year suggests that there has been a 30 per cent drop in student enrolments for Indonesian language learning among most of the Australian universities that taught the language between 2002 and 2009. Although three Australian universities have reported a slight increase in Indonesian language students this year, the overall trend is alarming. And this is especially true in light of Indonesia’s current and future economic growth potential: the country is currently the third-largest economy in the G20 — behind China and India — and according to a recent Citibank report is expected to become the world’s fourth-largest economy (PPP) by 2040.
The shrinking number of Australian students with Indonesian expertise, then, is a significant problem to which the White Paper and the IAD need to turn their attention if Australians are to truly understand and benefit from Indonesia’s rapid economic and strategic growth. But in the struggle to have more young Australians studying and developing expertise about Indonesia, boosting language learning alone is not enough.
The few students who study Indonesian at Australian universities graduate with specialised language skills as well as an understanding of the culture, politics, economy and legal system of an important neighbour to Australia. Yet Australian employers are not capitalising on these skills.
As an example, many Commonwealth government department graduate programs with a strong presence in Indonesia, such as AusAID and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (which houses its largest embassy in Jakarta), seek talented generalists, not regional specialists. As a consequence, graduates in these programs, who have spent years cultivating specialised country-specific skills, may spend most of their careers working on a country for which they have no relevant background. Similarly, private sector graduate programs in businesses with a strong presence in Indonesia do not promote opportunities for graduates in Australia with specialist Indonesian skills.
This sends a clear message to students that some of the country’s largest employers — including the federal government, that is itself calling for greater Asia literacy — are not interested in employing graduates with specialist Asia-focused skills. Graduates may then ultimately work in jobs where they do not apply and cultivate their expertise, or they might work in-country, but not always for Australian organisations.
If Australia wants to capitalise on the economic growth in Indonesia and elsewhere in Asia then Australian students need to develop Indonesian language and other specialised skills; but career opportunities where these Asia-literate graduates can use their skill-sets to the benefit of Australia’s prosperity must also be created.
One way of doing this is for Australian employers to offer graduate programs that create more Asia-focused opportunities for young graduates. Commonwealth government and private sector graduate programs, for instance, could seek out graduates with specialist Indonesian or other Asian skills, rather than generalists, and offer opportunities to rotate through Asian offices in the early part of their careers. This would allow departments to make use of the expertise that graduates have developed at university, and encourage graduates with an interest in Indonesia and Asia more broadly to work for Australian organisations, rather than seeking opportunities abroad.
If enrolments in Indonesian language courses have any hope of increasing in Australia, students must be able to see that Australian employers value this knowledge. By offering more Indonesia-focused career opportunities, it will hopefully be young Indonesia-literate Australians, rather than tourists caught up in drug scandals in Bali, who come to dominate the relationship.
Arjuna Dibley is a Bachelor of Asian Studies/Laws student at the Australian National University and is currently finishing his degree in Jakarta as a Prime Minister’s Australia Asia Award scholar.
Your comment:
“This sends a clear message to students that some of the country’s largest employers — including the federal government, that is itself calling for greater Asia literacy — are not interested in employing graduates with specialist Asia-focused skills.”
…has always been the case. Very few Asian Studies Graduates (or those that study Asian languages) are lucky enough to get jobs where they can use their skills or focus in their areas of interest.
The sad reality is that for most Asian Studies graduates a year or two of studying the language in-country is often then followed by tenuous and unfulfilling work to attempt to stay overseas – either low level administrative work in a Consulate or being exploited as an English teacher by state or private institutions. They can then return with meagre savings and usually end up studying a course that will lead to a career.
Now and then a high-flyer will be quoted as referring to their Asian Studies degree – this is usually a sop to their old University as it won’t be that qualification which got them anywhere. Usually they’ve got strong political connections or have studied law or business as well.
Of course the reverse is actually true in Asia – studying English is essential to get a good job in many places, and opens doors to real and beneficial work.
David, your comment is succinct and accurate. After a MPhil in Indonesian at the ANU, I’m now studying population health, in an attempt to give myself something marketable. Every employer and agency wanted to know what ‘actual skills’ I had.
I had the disadvantage of not being Australian by residency or citizenship. Everyone else I know, almost without exception, went into ASIO, DFAT, or AusAID.