Renewed Collaboration between Leiden University and the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs
Leiden University and the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA) signed an agreement to formalise the renewed collaboration on education and research. MoRA aims to develop and improve their quality of religious Higher Education Institutions under their Ministry through this collaboration. The scope of the collaboration will cover all disciplines at Leiden University.
Delegates of MoRA led by Secretary General Prof. Kamaruddin Amin met with President of Leiden University Prof. Luc Sels on 23 February to discuss further the upcoming collaboration plans. The meeting was also attended by the Indonesian ambassador to the Netherlands Mr. Laurentius Amrih Jinangkung, Education Attaché Aulia Iskandarsyah, Director of Islamic Higher Education, Prof. Sahiron, and Dean of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences Prof. Bart Barendregt.
In addition to the signing of the agreement, Leiden University and MoRA organized a joint workshop titled "Muslim Futures: Technology, Ecology, and Coexistence." The event featured Dr. Verena Meyer (Leiden Institute for Area Studies), Dr. David Kloos (KITLV), and Prof. Adriaan Bedner (Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance, and Society) who have vast experience in working with Islamic universities in Indonesia. PhD candidates from Indonesia were also invited to present their research projects.
MoRA delegates also held a reunion with alumni and professors who were involved in the Indonesia-Netherlands Cooperation in Islamic Studies (INIS) program. INIS was established in the early 1990s to promote Islamic research, especially in Indonesian educational institutions. It facilitated scholarly interactions and collaborative publications.
