US-INDONESIA: Obama begins rebuilding academic ties

US President Barack Obama has postponed travel to Indonesia, his childhood home, three times since taking office, the latest visit sidelined in June by the giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, writes Karin Fischer for The Chronicle of Higher Education. But a "comprehensive partnership" to deepen relations between the two countries is steaming ahead, one that has as a critical tenet the expansion of higher-education ties.

At the recent G-20 summit meeting in Toronto, Obama announced that the United States would spend $165-million over the next five years on programmes to help strengthen higher education in Indonesia through educational exchanges and university partnerships. The two countries will also hold a higher-education summit next summer.
Full report on The Chronicle of Higher Education site