LDE and UI Students Wrapped the Joint Minor Programme with Final Presentations
LDE-FISIP UI Joint Minor students brought various issues in the Greater Jakarta Area to their final assignment in the form of policy briefs. The policy briefs are based on a month of research on the topics of waste management, the myth of the Jakarta dream of the younger generation, urban farming, energy transition, the development of the Manggarai station, and AI in education, all in front of the corresponding stakeholders.
Policy Brief Presentation
The students from Universitas Indonesia (UI) and Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Universities delivered their final presentation on 1 December 2025 after conducting fieldwork in various locations, gathering insights through in-depth interviews, survey, participant observations, and desk research. The event was attended by lecturers and representatives from the Jakarta provincial government, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), State-owned Electricity Company (PLN), Ministry of Culture of Indonesia, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Indonesia, and the students’ research respondents.
One group conducted the fieldwork in the area around Manggarai train station, Jakarta's busiest station, which serves as a transit hub for several train routes of Greater Jakarta (Jabodetabek). What they saw was a chaotic traffic flow with no separation between vehicles and pedestrians, narrow, uneven, and damaged sidewalks, parking that took up road space, and informal stalls and stored goods blocking pathways. A condition that increases safety risks for road users and pedestrians. One of their recommendations is the improvement in the management if that area. Andhika Ajie, Head of the Center for Research & Innovation at the Regional Development Planning Agency of Jakarta expressed his interest specifically in the policy suggestion on Manggarai Station, urging further discussion for its implementation.
To conclude the event, Education and Science Attaché Yvonne Klerks shared her appreciation for the success of the joint minor program, highlighting the multicultural aspect and the multidisciplinary approach that brings together multiple perspectives.
During the closing ceremony, the Dean of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Indonesia (FISIP UI), Prof. Semiarto Aji Purwanto appreciated this program not only for enriching academic knowledge of the students but also strengthening cross-cultural understanding and provide critical thinking on global issues. Furthermore, he hoped to develop this programme into a more structured collaboration to become a model of sustainable international cooperation and meaningful global learning.
Student testimonials
Larasati, one of the participating Indonesian students of UI, said that every topic they had studied showed that developments do not happen instantly but are closely connected to policymakers and that their ways of making decisions shape what people see and hear in the news each day. The understanding on how everyday challenges are influenced by larger structures was highly relevant.
“Big lesson is just how complicated problems in society really are. We pretty much learn we just need better technology to solve the problems and then everything will solve itself, but of course in reality the problems are much more difficult, and we really need all the different actors - governments, NGOs, local people - to work together towards overcoming the issues”, according to Koos, a Dutch student from TU Delft.