Building closer connections between the Territory and Denpasar

Charles Darwin University (CDU) has joined a City of Darwin delegation on a journey to Denpasar, Indonesia this month to form close partnerships between the Territory's tropical capital Darwin and Denpasar.

As part of the trip, the Lord Mayor of Darwin Kon Vatskalis set up a Sister City agreement between Denpasar and Darwin which will potentially recruit up to 1,000 hospitality, tourism and agriculture workers.

The Memorandum of Understanding for a Sister City relationship with its five-year action plan aims to develop economic and cultural ties between Darwin and Denpasar.

CDU’s new Vice-President Global and External Relations, Jenny Roberts, represented the University in the group of City of Darwin delegates to Denpasar in June.

Ms Roberts, who was formerly the Assistant Vice-Chancellor, is now CDU’s new Vice-President Global and External Relations to reflect her areas of responsibility in marketing, business development, advancement, and international operations at the University.

Ms Roberts said she aimed to establish closer ties with Indonesia and promote study and partnership opportunities at CDU to Denpasar businesses and workers.

“Indonesia is one of Australia’s closest neighbours and a country of great strategic importance to us,” Ms Roberts said.

“Many of our international students at CDU come from Indonesia and Indonesian studies is a popular study area for our domestic students.”

“The trip offers a great opportunity to build connections with local universities and businesses and promote CDU in Indonesia, which is critical for Darwin.”

“I'm looking forward to hitting the ground running in this new position, which shows CDU’s focus on building strong external relations and the importance of global relations and international students to actualise CDU's strategic objective to develop the Territory’s future workforce.”

Udayana University’s Deputy Dean for Finance and General Affairs Yayu Indrawati was keen to discuss areas of collaboration between the two universities.

“The first priority is collaborative work in research specifically in the area of tourism and hospitality,” Miss Indrawati said.

“Secondly is the exchange of lecturers and students to gain international experience. These future collaborative works are so relevant to have new insights into working in different academic environments and gaining international experiences.”

International Institute of Tourism and Business’s President Dr I Made Sudjana welcomed the City of Darwin delegation to his establishment.

“My dream is to send our young, qualified students to Darwin for work. The Institute’s 3,500 students would welcome capability and human resource development in Australia,” Dr Sudjana said.

The delegates also represented Tourism Top End, NT Farmers, Alana Kaye College, the NT Government, NT Chamber of Commerce and the Indonesia Australia Business Council NT.