Bishop’s University

Dr. Augustian Sutrisno at BU to acquire expertise in Exploring Canadian-Indonesian Higher Education Relations.

Dr. Augustian Sutrisno completed his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Indonesia, his Master’s at the University of New South Wales, and his PhD at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). He was awarded the Prime Minister’s Endeavour Australia-Asia Postgraduate Scholarship to undertake his PhD and received both the 2014 QUT Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award and the 2015 Outstanding Postgraduate Thesis Award from the International Education Association of Australia. Dr. Sutrisno specializes in higher education studies, particularly international higher education, as well as management and policy in higher education. His research primarily focuses on Indonesia and Australia, where he completed his advanced studies.

Dr. Augustian Sutrisno smiling at the camera in a long windowed hallway.
Dr. Augustian Sutrisno

His journey began as a Policy Adviser (Education and Training) at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, where he engaged in forging new university partnerships between Indonesian and Australian institutions. This experience led him to question the utility and impact of these partnerships. After working with UNESCO, he became increasingly intrigued by how international higher education influences national development in various countries, including Indonesia. This curiosity motivated him to pursue a PhD in international higher education, which has been his research area ever since.

Dr. Sutrisno chose Bishop’s University for his research primarily because of Professor David Webster, a specialist in Canadian-Indonesian bilateral relations, which aligns closely with his focus on Canadian-Indonesian university partnerships. 

Currently, his research project at Bishop’s University aims to understand the landscape of Canadian-Indonesian higher education relations, which has gained renewed attention due to the upcoming Indonesia-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (ICA-CEPA) and the recent interest of the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) in ASEAN and Indonesia in particular. This study addresses a significant gap in research literature that has largely overlooked this topic since the end of Canadian aid for Indonesian Islamic scholars to study at McGill in the 1990s. With a resurgence of interest in Indonesia framed through trade and economic partnerships, the study offers a fresh perspective on the Indonesia-Canada relationship, moving away from the traditional aid and development narrative. 

Dr. Sutrisno’s research will not only enhance understanding of higher education internationalization and cross-border collaboration between Indonesia and Canada but will also provide practical policy insights relevant to the negotiations surrounding the ICA-CEPA. 

He notes that international higher education is currently under considerable scrutiny, particularly in Anglosphere countries. There are concerns that accepting a large number of international students may lead to unsustainable futures for the cities and campuses hosting them. Consequently, Canada and Australia have implemented caps on the number of international students. Additionally, there are worries about national security being compromised if international research students from certain countries study sensitive areas related to military projects and economic competitiveness. Dr. Sutrisno emphasizes the need for more research within a geopolitical framework that considers various perspectives, not just those from Anglosphere countries, to better understand these phenomena and their implications for universities worldwide. 

Similar Posts