McRobbie visits South Asia

President Michael McRobbie has embarked on an 11-day tour of Southeast Asia, and his destinations include Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. IU Vice President for International Affairs David Zaret accompanies McRobbie on this journey through the Orient.

In a press release, McRobbie said the goals of this voyage include “encouraging our students to study abroad and creating opportunities for them to do so,” “recruiting highly-qualified international students to Indiana University,” “promoting and supporting global connections for faculty research,” “developing global bilateral partnerships with peer and complementary teaching and research institutions” and “pursuing international outreach and service in the form of institution-building.”

McRobbie said he believes study abroad is a critical component of any student’s education.

“Our large and growing numbers of alumni from Southeast Asia, and the strong partnerships we have forged with its preeminent universities, reflect the impact the region will have on future economic growth here in Indiana, nationally and internationally,” McRobbie said.

Director of IU Communications Ryan Piurek said the trip’s missions included strengthening ties with a region of the world experiencing rapid economic and technological growth.

In 2011, the World Bank calculated Singapore’s annual GDP growth as 14.5
percent.

Since 1948, IU has maintained professional ties to Southeast Asia, beginning with the Institute of Public Administration at Thammasat University in Thailand. The partnership between universities was sponsored by the Agency for International Development through the United States Foreign Operations Administration.

“The University has this long, storied history of institution building in Southeast Asia, which dates back to when our 11th president Herman Wells visited Thailand,” Piurek said. “He started talking with leaders in that country about higher education and other developing opportunities. This trip is an opportunity to help these nations as we’ve done in the past.”

In the early 1960s, IU instituted two-year “teacher colleges” in Thailand, and several of these facilities are now comprehensive, four-year universities.

On May 22, McRobbie extended the conversation on higher education and met with Thai leaders to deliver a speech titled, “Challenges of Higher Education Administration in the Next Decade.”

“Within this global context, the world’s colleges and universities must share the world’s burden in addressing the most important global issues of our time, such as trade, energy, information technology, access to water resources and population movement,” McRobbie said.

About 100 IU alumni gathered in Thailand to hear McRobbie’s speech. Piurek estimated that more than 5,000 alumni now live abroad in Southeast Asia.

Distinguished Hoosiers in this region include Prachan Boonpracong, international adviser to the Thai Prime Minister, and Dr. Vichai Tunsiri, former Thai Deputy Minister of Education.

The trip’s plans also include developing partnership agreements with the National University of Singapore and Indonesia’s Universitas Gadjah Mada.

“(McRobbie) is leading a delegation to strengthen our connection with this important part of the world with some of the preeminent universities from this region of the world, as well as our growing international alumni base,” Piurek said. “He hopes to foster more study abroad opportunities, increase research collaboration among our faculty and attract more of the kind of top-performing international students.”