Market Intelligence Brief: Indonesia 2023

Spread across 17,000 islands, Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country and Southeast Asia’s largest economy, although it still remains below nearby countries like Thailand, Malaysia and China in terms of GDP per capita. Estimates from UNESCO suggest that around 59,000 Indonesian students travelled abroad to study at the higher education level in 2021, making it Southeast Asia’s second largest outbound international student market behind Vietnam. The most popular destination countries for Indonesian students include Australia, Malaysia, the US, Japan, the UK and Germany, with the major English-speaking destinations being particularly popular amongst scholarship funded students who account for around 10 per cent of Indonesian outbound students.

Despite the country's size, the number of Indonesian students in the UK is lower than the number coming from several of its neighbours. Student numbers grew consistently until the 2016/17 academic year but trend in recent years has been less consistent. However, the most recent year of student enrolments data saw encouraging growth, with a 20 per cent increase in 2021/22 taking the figure above 4,000 for the first time. Furthermore, study visa issuances to Indonesian nationals in 2022 expanded by 13 per cent compared to the year before.

While historically the majority of Indonesian students in the UK have been postgraduates, the proportion of undergraduates rose above 50 per cent for the first time in 2020/21 and remained at a similar level in 2021/22. Business and management has consistently been the top subject area studied by Indonesian students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the UK, followed by engineering and technology, with social sciences in third place.

The scale of transnational education in Indonesia is currently relatively limited compared to other parts of Southeast Asia, but the number of students has tripled over the last decade and still has significant potential for future growth. The Indonesian government is keen to improve the quality of the country’s higher education and it sees global collaboration as a means by which to achieve this, with the MOECRT recently launching a new scholarship programme to support Indonesian post-graduate students on TNE programmes. In 2021, Australian university Monash became the first institution to set up a foreign-owned branch campus in Indonesia, while overseas universities are also invited to develop partnerships with local institutions to establish a new university or deliver joint study programs.

Indonesia is identified in the UK's International Education strategy as one of five priority countries with significant potential for bilateral growth in the international higher education sector, alongside India, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and Nigeria. The UK-Indonesia Partnership Roadmap 2022-2024 commits the two countries to closer strategic co-operation in a wide range of areas, including education, research and innovation; specific priorities include supporting international mobility and exchange; promoting Indonesia as a priority destination for UK HE providers to develop TNE partnerships; improving English language training capabilities, and building and deepening research and development partnerships.

This 26-page report gives an overview of Indonesia's education system and the wider demographic, economic and political context, with a focus on international education trends in the country - including both student mobility and transnational education. It aims to provide useful information to UK education institutions and other UK stakeholders considering partnerships with counterparts in Indonesia and to support further cooperation and engagement between the two countries.