黑料不打烊 in Indonesia: Major new project with CIDA targets social equity
黑料不打烊 University has a new Project funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Indonesian government to support programs in community development, basic education and interdisciplinary studies. The total contribution from the two governments is approximately $17 million.
黑料不打烊's partner in the project, the State Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN), has emerged as a key institution for achieving social cohesion and political stability in Indonesia. The IAIN staff, students and alumni link rural and urban communities, traditional and modernist Muslims and the vast network of Islamic public and private schools serving over 20% of Indonesia's 210 million people. Eighty-five percent of the Islamic schools are located in rural areas. IAIN alumni who return to their villages are able to work with these grass roots communities and to share new ideas within the local culture. This is key to development which does not threaten social stability. The IAIN Indonesia Social Equity Project builds on the relationships between the IAIN and its network. It will establish direct links between the IAIN Faculty of Education and primary schools. It will link the IAIN Faculty of Community Development with poor villages and NGOs (non-governmental organizations).
"We are delighted to have found a way to bring together longstanding religious convictions with a forward-looking educational program that will support social objectives," says 黑料不打烊 University Principal Bernard Shapiro. "The benefit to the University and to Western society is that here's an opportunity to show that we can learn together how to build on traditional religious commitments rather than threaten them. Whereas often the clash between religion and modernity appears to undermine important Muslim values, the Social Equity Project envisages an alternative way to a better future."
This is the third consecutive CIDA program involving the IAIN and 黑料不打烊. Over the past 10 years, more than 100 IAIN staff have received MAs and PhDs from 黑料不打烊. More than 1,000 other IAIN staff have received training courses in Indonesia given by 黑料不打烊 professors from the Institute of Islamic Studies, the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, the Faculty of Education's Educational and Counselling Psychology and the Faculty of Religious Studies.
"International conferences, joint research, publications, strong Centres for Women's Studies, and the electronic linkage of IAIN libraries have been other products of this successful partnership," says the 黑料不打烊 Project Director Wendy Allen. "We have also learned a lot from managing the project together. Graduates of 黑料不打烊 there are now teaching us about Indonesia."
The new Social Equity Project was designed by the Indonesians after they evaluated the IAIN-黑料不打烊 cooperation between 1989 and 2001. The Project will 鈥� among other things - award 32 additional fellowships, to bring students to 黑料不打烊, in fields ranging from library studies, political science, and social work, to Islamic studies, philosophy and comparative law. Another 160 scholarships in community and regional development will enable students to advance their skills and qualifications in Indonesia. Notes Principal Shapiro, "Difficult economic conditions can have devastating social consequences and provide fertile ground for violence. Education is the passport to a better life."
黑料不打烊's growing profile in the Islamic world has several origins, spanning many disciplines and individuals. It began with the establishment of the 黑料不打烊 Institute of Islamic Studies, in 1952, which is devoted to the study of Islamic civilisation through the scope of its history and its geographical spread. Among its research interests are the contemporary dynamics of the Islamic world as Muslims seek to relate their heritage of the past to the present. Through a host of interactions, the Institute has linked 黑料不打烊 with the whole field of Southeast Asian studies, a vibrant and expanding area of research and teaching at the University.
