My First International Conference "ISQAE 2012" ^_^

On behalf of the Brawijaya University representation delegation of “The 1st International Seminar on Quality and Affordable Education 2012” please allow me to give thank you, Ir. Ari Wahjudi, MT as 3rd Deputy Dean, Student Affairs Section of Engineering Faculty, Ir. Dwi Priyantoro, M.S. as Chairman Major of Water Resources Engineering, Dr. Eng Donny Harisuseno, ST. MT as Secretary Major of Water Resources Engineering, and all the people who support me to participate as a presenter in this conference.

This seminar is truly international seminar, since it hosted by three universities, namely: The State University of Jakarta, Universiti Malaya, Malaysia, and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The guest speakers also come from several countries such as: Indonesia, Malaysia, and other countries, and attended by participants from various countries, such as: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the United Arab Emirate, India, the United States of America, Iran, and the Philippines.

To improve social walfare and alleviate proverty, the government of Indonesia has established a policy in the field of educational system to fulfill the increasing demands of science and technology and labor market. The objective of the policy is to increase participation rate 100% for elementary education and 96% for secondary education. Even the target has been achieved 94,6% in 2009, it is far from the whole objective.

Based on the data of Education Development Index (EDI), several countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Cambodia are in the category of middle level in the EDI countries, while the other countries such as Brunei Darussalam is the higher level. In other words, quality education is still a problem in those countries.

The effort to expand the access to affordable education in terms of geogrphical and economic development, improving the quality and relevance of education, strengthening governance and accountability of educational services must be realized to accelerate the achievement of universal primary education by 2015. Such an effort should be implemented to include: (i) education and competence of teachers; (ii) teachers professionaism; (iii) financial education management and human resource management; (iv) politics of education; (v) the paradigm and politics of education; (vi) development of organizational education; (vii) quality assurance of education; (viii) education and gender equality; and (ix) education for all.

Regarding those above issues, the international conference is aimed to produce strategic formulas to solve such a problem, particulary to find a solution how to develop a qualified and affordable education system. In line with that aim, the theme of this seminar is “Developing a Qualified and Affordable Education for All”.