8 May 2020
The Group of Eight (Go8), Australia's leading research-intensive universities, welcomes the announcement that the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) has now completed the domestic ratification process in Indonesia.
"Agreements like this are more important now, than ever," said Go8 Chief Executive, Vicki Thomson. "Australia has achieved great benefits from our international exchanges and agreements, and we must continue to create opportunities to do so into the future.
"Indonesia is one of our closest neighbours, and a key member of the Indo-Pacific Region. Both of our nations can only benefit from the opportunities that the IA-CEPA creates to deepen our relationships through high quality international education."
Go8 universities are proud to have hosted over 5,000 enrolments from Indonesian nationals in 2019, over 300 of whom were engaged in research studies in key areas such as Engineering, the Sciences and Health.
"Figures just released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that our international education sector brought in over $40 billion in the 12 months to March 2020," Ms Thomson said. "This reflects strongly on the quality of the offerings of universities such as the Go8, and the high demand this brings from students around the world.
"We will not be in lockdown forever. Our government is already deep in planning how Australia can move forward, and agreements such as the IA-CEPA present much needed pathways through which we can begin to rebuild Australia's key industries and engage with partners in our region and across the world.
"The Go8 looks forward to working more closely with Indonesia as a result of this agreement."
