The Tiger community will expand its global reach to Indonesia this year as the University, partnering up with Lone Star College System and the Universitas Siswa Bangsa Internasional, will offer a number of bachelor degrees at a new campus in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The program is set to begin in fall 2015 and will tentatively offer Thermodynamics, Strengths and Material Science classes for mechanical engineering students.
LSU Engineering in Indonesia will expand to include degrees in computer science, electrical and industrial engineering in fall 2016.
“The primary mission of the program is to grant an LSU engineering degree to students in Indonesia, but the benefit is that there are seats opened in those classes for students from the U.S.,” said College of Engineering Dean Richard Koubek.
Koubek said the program was started as a way to help top students with financial need in Indonesia receive the education needed to become professionals. However, as part of a funding deal made with the Putera Sampoerna Foundation, seats will be open for students in the U.S. to take the classes with Indonesian students at the Jakarta campus.
“Students will be able to take courses in Indonesia they’d otherwise take in Baton Rouge with the same faculty, so there’s no language issue,” Koubek said. “It allows students who want to go to another country and experience a different culture to study abroad without having to worry about learning material in another language.”
Sherif Ishak, College of Engineering professor and interim associate dean for Academic Affairs, believes the program would not incentivize University students in Baton Rouge to travel to Jakarta because the same classes are offered in the U.S.
“This program is designed for Indonesian students,” Ishak said. “We are delivering the education to those students over there by sending our faculty. Nothing would stop a student if they wanted to go to Jakarta and take a class there, but I think it would make more sense for a student [in Baton Rouge] to go to a different university.”
For mechanical engineering senior Steven Bosworth, taking a class offered by the University abroad would be more beneficial because it would take the uncertainty out of the experience.
“I think the biggest opportunity this program gives you is that you can study abroad and still stay on track with your classes — you don’t have to add a semester or anything like that,” Bosworth said. “This would also give international experience that [students] don’t actually need, but [could be] beneficial during the hiring process.”
Lone Star College System is already set up in Jakarta and supplies Indonesian students with the first two years of their college career. The University will supply the second two years needed for students to finish their degrees.
“This is the first time that we’ve tried to start an international program to deliver a degree from LSU outside the U.S., and it’s exciting,” Ishak said. “If it becomes successful, it opens the door for more opportunities.”
The building that will house the University’s campus in Jakarta is currently being designed.
The University campus in Jakarta is expected to be ready by fall 2015, but if construction is delayed, classes would still run at the USBI campus.