First and foremost, it has been our priority to focus on our campus’ academic culture, in that we have sought to develop a learning environment suited to our mission of creating entrepreneurs. Students are taught to embrace collaboration with their peers, while at the same time are encouraged to demonstrate initiative and independence in their studies. This is in keeping with Trilogi University’s core principles of Collaboration, Technopreneurship and Independence, which continue to shape our strategy for the future as we look to establish ourselves as a university renowned for producing graduates ready to work and contribute to society.

In addition to further integrating a new philosophy within our campus, Trilogi University recently launched a clearly defined strategy for research through the publication of a 'Grand Design for Research & Community Empowerment'. This strategy reiterates the role of our faculty members to not only serve as teachers but also as researchers whose findings advance Indonesia socially and economically.

Finally, our university has also taken steps to prepare for the upcoming ASEAN Economic Community by promoting open-mindedness amongst our students and providing them with skills and qualifications that are internationally recognised. To achieve this goal and offer an added value learning experience for our students, we work with institutions abroad for international certification in subjects such as accounting, marketing, public speaking, and information technology. We intend to introduce similar international certification courses for agriculture, which has become an area of focus for us given Indonesia’s need to address the challenge of food security.

When I first joined this university as Rector, I made the suggestion to designate Fridays as a day for students to speak English at every opportunity, to familiarize them with the language and improve upon their ability to communicate comfortably on a more international stage. Since then, I have also made Tuesday an English-speaking day on campus as well as introduced programs such as an English-language debate in which students have to provide a rational assessment of contemporary issues and convince others of the reasoning behind their thinking. Through the debate program, students go beyond learning the basics of the language and are prepared for the reality of a growing number of non-Indonesian speakers entering the country in the near future.

Bio-industry remains a key subject as we seek to evolve in line with Indonesia’s continued development. Our plan for this subject is to teach it in tandem with an analysis of creative industries, as this is another area with the potential to become a foundation of Indonesia’s economy going forward.

Much in the same way that creative industries celebrate the archipelago’s cultural diversity, bio-industry could pursue a similar strategy in pinpointing the unique strengths and potential of different regions of Indonesia depending upon their most abundant natural resource. In many ways, our country can best establish its global position by emphasising the variety of its opportunities at the local level.

The 'Grand Design for Research & Community Empowerment', published in April 2014, is the master plan that puts in place the framework for research carried out by our faculty members. Generally speaking, the plan identifies nine prioritised fields of study including but not limited to topics such as ‘Food, Energy and Water’, ‘Population, Poverty and Human Resources’ and ‘Globalisation: Economic and Social Integration’.

Supporting this master plan is our collaboration with the Mandiri Foundation, which has an existing community empowerment program in place at the household level in over 30,000 districts. This allows for the straightforward application of our findings, and marks the first step in our long-term strategy to work with the government and private sector to ensure that our research findings can be implemented and put to use.

Our collaboration with the Embassy of Japan in Indonesia was motivated by our desire to reach out to universities and private sector industries located in Japan. First and foremost, we see the MoU as a step towards initiating student exchange that will provide our students with overseas experience. We expect that working with the embassy will accelerate the process for finding partners in Japan, as well as help up identify the universities and private sector companies most suited to cooperating with us. Our university also sees considerable opportunities for our students to intern and work at the many Japanese companies with operations in Indonesia. Close collaboration with the Embassy of Japan ensures that we are regularly updated on the availability of positions for our students to fill within these companies.

In addition to Japan, Thailand has potential as another market to focus on and we plan to cooperate with Kasetsart University – a top-ranked public university in Bangkok – given its established reputation in agriculture. Malaysia is also of interest to us as another key market within the ASEAN, and we have already initiated discussions with prospective partners there such as Universiti Putra Malaysia.

We hope to channel Global Business Guide Indonesia’s network to reach out to potential partners around the world, with a particular emphasis on exploring new opportunities to collaborate in Southeast Asia. GBG Indonesia’s readers should remember Trilogi University as an educational institution that offers strategic programs and is open to student and faculty exchange as well as joint research with other universities and the private sector.