Universitas Gadjah Mada
Faculty of Economics and Business

Indonesian Economy is now in a transition period. After decades of economic growth and decrease in poverty, Indonesian economy is facing the challenge of urgent evaluation on how the government should make and apply their policies. Some problems in Public Sector Management are said to be the corruption, favoritism, and bureaucracy, which getting more and more attention. Indonesian government has been continuing the reformation on the macroeconomics policies, fiscal decentralization, financial reformation, loan re-structuring, and privatization problems. Those economics challenges are in urgent need of improvement of governmental management to increase the efficiency, transparency, and public sector accountability.

Responding to the current development of Indonesian economy, on Friday (22/01/2010) at the Faculty of Economics and Business Universitas Gadjah Mada (FEB UGM) has been signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between FEB UGM, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University (AYSPS GSU) United States, Department of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia, and United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The cooperation is focused on the Development of Human Resources Management, especially in Public Policies.

Present on the MoU signing are the Dean of FEB UGM, Prof. Marwan Asri, MBA., Ph.D, FEB UGM vice deans, Head of Master of Science (M.Si) and Doctoral Program, Dr. Supriyadi, M.Sc., Deputy Head of M.Si, Head of Fiscal Policy, Department of Finance Republic of Indonesia, Dr. Anggito Abimanyu, M.Sc., with his staff, and Mission Director of USAID, Walter North, with his staff. In his speech, Walter North stated that it is a great decision to study at GSU as it is one of the best universities in the United States in the study of policy of public economy.

The cooperation is aimed to facilitate the study program for the Department of Finance staff who was assigned to join the dual degree program which specifically designed by focusing on the issues and challenges in Indonesian economy. A specific tutorial program, academic supervisor, and administration staff are also prepared to handle this program. The dual degree program is started with a 12-moths of study at Master of Science Program at FEB UGM, and continued by 17-months of study at GSU. This program is a tailor-made program, which is adjusted with the need of Indonesia to have more public economy analyst. At the end of the program, student will be awarded the degree of Master of Science from UGM and Master of Arts from GSU. The graduates will have the expertise in analyzing the public sector economy in the modern context, including in analyzing the performance of public policies.