Interview with Dr Jonathan L. Parapak Universitas Pelita Harapan

Partnerships | Faculty Exchanges

Dr Jonathan L. Parapak

gbg	Please present a background to the founding of Universitas Pelita Harapan to GBG’s audience.
Dr Parapak	We have always said that UPH was established to lift the quality of education in Indonesia and to take it to the global arena. It is a global campus always implementing global best practices. From a general perspective, we are open for people to come and teach at UPH, we have a truly international faculty including lecturers from America, Australia and the Philippines. Naturally, we want to benchmark with the best universities in the world such as with the National University of Singapore on medical and business education. That is the commitment that we have, we network with universities from all over the world and have established dual programs with universities in the USA, Europe and Australia. We have not reached the stage that we want to be at yet, but we are on the right track to reaching it.
gbg	How does UPH attract the best talents to its faculty?
Dr Parapak	We are a mission orientated university so we do not just attract lecturers for high salaries. We are here not to make money, but to bless Indonesia with better education. On remuneration, we cannot compete in attracting the best talent but when it comes to contribution, here professors can have a real impact on lives.
gbg	In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, how is UPH contributing to creating socially responsible leaders?
Dr Parapak	This is the key to our existence; we are concerned about the moral corruption in Indonesia. Whenever you see a newspaper headline it is always about corruption which is very sad. So when it comes to education, we want to create students not only of excellent academic abilities, but of the highest ethics and moral character. I myself was previously in business as the President Director of Indosat and my vision at that time was how to create a state owned company that met international standards and was free from corruption. We were able to achieve this and Indosat was the first Indonesian company to list on the NYSE. I see that we, as a university, have to do our part in changing how people see Indonesia; people see that Indonesia is one of the most corrupt countries in the world and the only way to change that is through education.
gbg	Why should foreign students consider Indonesia for further studies in Asia?
Dr Parapak	Often you hear Indonesia, China and India grouped together although Indonesia is much smaller and not in the international picture as much as China for example when it comes to education. However, Indonesia is a country of the future, the economy is growing fast and to be able to take advantage of it in the future you must come and learn to develop a ‘cultural intelligence’.