UNAIR NEWS – ¶«¾©ÈÈ (UNAIR) warmly received a visit from the Vanuatu Scholarship Assessment Team. The meeting took place on Wednesday, July 8, 2026, at the Plenary Meeting Room of Balairua, Management Office, MERR-C Campus UNAIR.
The gathering was attended by the UNAIR Vice Rector for Academic, Student, and Alumni Affairs, Prof. Ir. Mochammad Amin Alamsjah, M.Si., Ph.D., the Principal Scholarship Officer from the Ministry of Education of Vanuatu, Mr. Joe Gideon, along with his delegation, the Director of Airlangga Global Engagement (AGE), Irfan Wahyudi, S.Sos., M.Comms., Ph.D., and various representatives from UNAIR faculties. The discussion focused on educational cooperation, the expansion of scholarship opportunities, and student exchanges.
AGE Director, Irfan Wahyudi, highlighted that this meeting marks a historic milestone, as UNAIR has recently welcomed its very first student from the Republic of Vanuatu, who is currently undergoing a matriculation program in the Department of Accounting at the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) UNAIR.
“This is an extraordinary opportunity, and we hope to build deeper engagement with universities in Vanuatu. We aim to explore institutional relationships, understand our respective educational systems, and exchange both ideas and culture,” he stated.
Sustainable goals of the Vanuatu government
Representing Vanuatu, Mr. Joe Gideon reaffirmed his country’s commitment to overcoming human resource limitations through this collaboration. He explained that the nation of 340,000 residents views Indonesia as a major economic power rich in knowledge institutions. Vanuatu currently references its National Human Resource Development Plan (People’s Plan 2080) to cultivate experts capable of filling strategic vacancies across both public and private sectors.
“In Vanuatu, we face a high demand for higher education that outweighs our budgetary capacity. The ratio stands at roughly 100 selected students out of 5,000 scholarship applicants. Therefore, we must actively build bilateral partnerships to pave new pathways for quality educational access,” Mr. Joe explained during the forum.
As a concrete, long-term step, the Ministry of Education of Vanuatu is currently preparing a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with several universities in Indonesia, including UNAIR.
UNAIR’s commitment to cooperation
Responding to Vanuatu’s national priorities, UNAIR offered several premier, interdisciplinary international programs for Vanuatu students wishing to pursue their studies. Among these is a track from FEB. Nadia Anridho, the coordinator for the Bachelor of Accounting study program, outlined the readiness of their International Undergraduate Programme (IUP), which is conducted entirely in English. FEB also offers an integrated fast-track program scheme that allows students to complete both their bachelor’s and master’s degrees in just five years.
Beyond accounting, UNAIR highlighted its strengths in the scientific and medical sectors. Irfan Wahyudi added that UNAIR possesses a robust research foundation in tropical medicine and biology, fully backed by health facilities that could serve as pilot projects for collaboration. This framework is envisioned to be adopted by the Ministry of Health of Vanuatu, ensuring that students graduating from UNAIR can immediately practice as licensed medical professionals in their home country.
Furthermore, Wahyudi introduced the Airlangga Development Scholarship (ADS), a dedicated financial aid program designed for developing nations and neighboring countries to pursue higher education at ¶«¾©ÈÈ.
“As UNAIR firmly holds its position at 3rd in Indonesia and 276th globally according to the QS World University Rankings, we hope this collaboration will contribute significantly to the advancement of educational quality and strengthen diplomatic ties between Indonesia and Pacific nations,” Wahyudi concluded.
Author: Nur Ibad Khasani
Editor: Khefti Al Mawalia
