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Grant to help Coast students learn Indonesian
The University of the Sunshine Coast has won a $309,851 Commonwealth grant to promote the teaching and learning of Indonesian in local schools.
In a major national achievement against top-level competition, USC’s International Projects Group won one of 10 grants totalling $3.86 million announced by Minister for School Education Peter Garrett.
The grants form round two of the National Asian Languages and Studies in Schools Program’s Strategic Collaboration and Partnership Fund.
The project will stimulate demand and create incentives for senior students and teachers at Sunshine Coast high schools to learn Indonesian language at USC, both on-campus and online.
It will provide 60 scholarships in 2011-12 for Year 11/12 students and teachers from government and private schools to complete beginner Indonesian courses at the University through its award-winning Headstart program.
It will also facilitate sister school relationships and visits to Indonesia.
USC’s school partners in the project were St John’s College at Nambour, Bribie Island State High School and Meridan State College at Caloundra.
USC Senior Lecturer in Education Dr Bill Allen said the aim was to encourage more Coast students to develop a greater understanding of Indonesian culture.
“As only two schools between Caboolture and Noosa study Indonesian, this gives many more students the opportunity to learn it at this University, led by Lecturer Dr Phillip Mahnken and his team,” Dr Allen said.
“Hopefully this will lead to more students coming to USC to continue their Indonesian studies. Flow-ons may be in teacher education and in Environmental Sciences, where work with the Papuan Provincial Government of Indonesia has already been planned.
“The project also provides free places for teachers in schools to come to USC to study Indonesian in the same programs, developing their capacity and interest.”
More than 50 proposals were received by the Commonwealth Government for round two funding targeting four identified Asian languages and cultures: Chinese (Mandarin), Indonesian, Japanese and Korean.
RMIT University in Melbourne, Australian National University in Canberra and the University of Sydney were among other recipients.
Dr Allen said the grant reflected the success of USC’s two-year-old International Projects Group, managed by Suzanne Burford, which supports various divisions of the University in accessing grants in International study areas.
— Julie Gatehouse