NARASINETWORK.COM - On 27 January 2026, President Prabowo Subianto convened ministers from the Red and White Cabinet at his residence in Hambalang, Bogor, West Java. The gathering addressed advances in education cooperation between Indonesia and leading universities in the United Kingdom.
In a written statement, Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya noted that the President had brought together relevant ministers to review delivery of partnerships in higher education, with focus on building skilled human resources. "The meeting addressed advances in education cooperation between Indonesia and a number of prominent UK universities," said Wijaya.
During proceedings, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Brian Yuliarto presented a report on efforts to strengthen Indonesia’s national higher education system. The update covered developments in health sciences and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) through international collaboration.
Yuliarto reported that the President’s initiative to establish ten campuses focused on health and STEM fields through partnerships with leading UK universities had received positive feedback from partner institutions. The initiative was outlined by President Prabowo during the UK-Indonesia Education Roundtable at Lancaster House in London on 20 January 2026, where he noted Indonesia’s need to address shortfalls in medical workforce numbers.
Indonesia currently graduates around 9,000 doctors each year, while the country requires an additional 140,000 medical practitioners. A substantial portion of existing professionals are approaching retirement, creating need to expand higher education capacity in priority fields. The new campuses will adopt UK higher education standards, with English as the primary language of instruction. High-performing Indonesian students will receive government scholarships and complete English training before enrolment. Each campus will be linked to an accredited teaching hospital to improve healthcare provision and reduce spending on medical treatment abroad.
Several UK universities, including the University of Liverpool and other members of the Russell Group, have commenced collaborative work with Indonesia. The partnership matches the UK government’s International Education Strategy 2026, which positions education as a key component of global engagement.
The meeting in Hambalang demonstrated the government’s focus on ensuring international partnerships deliver improvements to education quality, national self-sufficiency and Indonesia’s capacity to compete globally in science and technology sectors.
