AUSTRALIA'S scholarship programme for foreign students should include ways of helping the recipients maintain the professional links they make, two Indonesian doctoral students say.
Fadliah Salim and her husband, Afriadi Hasibuan, believe that the training they are receiving in Australia is important to the future of their family and their country. To make the most of it, they want to ensure they can maintain contact with their Australian colleagues once they return to Indonesia in 1997.
Salim echoes a point made frequently by Indonesian students in Australia - at home, there is a constant battle for up-to-date journals and information. "In Indonesia, it's hard to follow what's happening in our fields." Foreign study helps fill the gaps, she says, while providing an opportunity to explore another culture. "We study society, what people do. If it's good, we bring it to our country. If it's bad, we leave it."
Both students ...
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.