Six Indonesian Universities Win $5.5 Million Norway Grants for Research

OSLO, KOMPAS.com – Six Indonesian universities have won a total of 48 million Norwegian crowns ($5.5 million) in funding from the Norwegian Program for Capacity Development in Higher Education and Research for Development (NORHED).

A statement from the Indonesian Embassy in Oslo said on Tuesday that the six universities are Gadjah Mada University (UGM), Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Pontianak State Polytechnic, the University of Nusa Cendana, and the University of Bangka Belitung.

Aiming at strengthening capacity in higher education and research in developing countries, the six Indonesian universities in collaboration with universities in Norway and other countries will be conducting research projects under various sub-themes, said the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad). NORHED program was launched in 2012 by Norad. 

Under the sub-theme of Climate Change and Natural Resources, UGM, Pontianak State Polytechnic, the University Nusa Cendana University and the University of Bangka Belitung are collaborating with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in a project titled Citizens Participation in Resource Governance and Sustainable Transition. This project received 20 million Norwegian crowns ($2.3 million) for six years.

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Another project titled Ecosystem-based Management of Coastal Marine Resources received a total fund of 18.1 million Norwegian crowns ($2 million) for a period of six years. The project will be carried out by the Arctic University of Norway (UIT), IPB in Indonesia, the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, and Nha Trang University in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, under the Politics and Economic Governance sub-theme, three universities — ITB in Indonesia, University of Stavanger in Norway, and University of Moratuwa in Sri Lanka — will collaborate to conduct a project titled Enhancing Lean Practices in Supply Chains: Digitalization. The project received 9.9 million Norwegian crowns ($1.1 million) for the duration of three years.

Indonesia’s Ambassador to Norway and Iceland Todung Mulya Lubis expressed his pride at the success of the six Indonesian universities in obtaining funding from the NORHED II program for the period of 2021-2026.

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The Indonesian Embassy in Oslo always fully supports and bridges the creation of cooperation between universities in Indonesia and higher education institutions in Norway and Iceland in various forms, including multi-university research collaborations.

“Norway has many types of funding for research projects that can be utilized. I continue to encourage universities in Indonesia to collaborate on research for development in order to strengthen the capacity of higher education institutions, to produce higher quality graduates, more research and higher quality, and more inclusive higher education,” Todung said in a statement on Tuesday.

The statement added that Norad, a directorate under the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will provide funds to 60 out of 199 applications to the program. All in all, the research funding requested through the proposals totalled 3.1 billion Norwegian crowns ($355.7 million), while the total budget stood at 1.1 billion Norwegian crowns ($126.2 million).

“Due to the high competition and limited funding available, many relevant and high-quality projects have unfortunately been rejected,” says Jeanette da Silva, coordinator for the NORHED program, on Tuesday, December 22.

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