For the past six weeks, a group of 16 education professionals from the province of Aceh in Indonesia have been studying at UNE in a program designed to enhance their leadership, management and English language skills.

After several months of negotiation, UNE signed an MOU with the provincial government of Aceh in October. The MOU provides for a range of personnel training to support long-term Banda Aceh capacity building objectives. The MOU covers education, training and research cooperation.

This first cohort of 16 students at UNE are from the Aceh Department of Education, and their staff training program consisted of a mix of English language training through UNE’s English Language Centre, lecturers from UNE academic staff in the School of Education, and off-site visits.

Lyn Mallise, Academic Manager at the English Language Centre, said the project has three main objectives: to improve the students’ English language skills; to develop their leadership skills; and to develop their awareness of Australia and its culture.

The students have spent six hours a week with Dr Rhonda Forrest and Dr Vicente Reyes from the School of Education, and have worked on their language skills with teachers from the English Language Centre.

A farewell for the students was held on Friday evening.