BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Brad Heim moved through the streets of Jakarta dazzled by the possibilities.

It was the summer of 2023, and the executive associate dean of the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs was on a tour of South Asia to speak to government administrators about opportunities to open a pipeline for international students to benefit from an O’Neill School education. As Indonesia modernizes, the need for trained, qualified public officials with expertise in policy is essential. As a world-renowned leader in public policy and administration education, the O’Neill School is uniquely positioned to help.

Fast forward a year, and the O’Neill School is proud to have created a partnership with the University of Indonesia that will help the country realize its goals.

“There are two pieces to the partnership,” Heim said. “There’s an academic side, and then there’s an executive education/consulting side. On the educational side, the Indonesian government has a tranche of scholarships for students who want to study abroad in dual-degree programs, and so we’re in the process of creating a dual-degree program that will allow students to complete a degree at the University of Indonesia and then enter into the Master of Public Administration program at O’Neill. The other piece of the partnership would provide consultation and training to Indonesian government officials during a time of transition in the country.”

Using the lessons and tools learned at the O’Neill School, graduates could return to Indonesia ready to positively impact their country's future.

“Part of the mission of the O’Neill School is to impact policy and governance around the globe,” Heim said. “One of the ways we can do that is by educating the future leaders of agencies. In pursuing any partnership, it’s often a balance between needing the help and having the resources. Indonesia is in the sweet spot where they have resources, and they’re looking to partner to build the skills of the people who will help push the country forward from a policy perspective.”

Details of the dual-degree partnership are still being completed, but the O’Neill School and the University of Indonesia have signed an agreement to cooperate to bring the effort to life in the near future.

Additionally, the O’Neill School has signed an agreement with the University of Indonesia to explore serving as consultants and training government officials through the O’Neill Executive Education program.

Indonesia is in the process of moving its national capital from Jakarta on the island of Java to Nusantara, a planned city on the island of Borneo. Construction on Nusantara began in 2022, and the $32 billion effort to create a city in the East Kalimantan jungle provides an opportunity for the latest public policies to shape the future of the new capital.

“Jakarta is an incredibly big, congested city,” Heim said. “It’s very difficult to operate a national government in that environment. It’s a challenge when you have a modern national government that you’re trying to extricate from your largest city. We’re looking to partner with the University of Indonesia to help with some of the projects they’re working through, such as how you incentivize people to be willing to move their families to an entirely new city that is being built as we speak. There are a lot of issues to be addressed, and we want to help in any way we can.”

Seeing the partnerships come to life has been incredibly rewarding for Heim.

“When you take a trip abroad, you never know if anything is going to come of it,” Heim said. “Are you just going to meet with a bunch of great people and see the world only to have partnerships never materialize? Or are you going to be able to yield fruitful relationships based on those meetings? It is really exciting to see the partnership that began last summer start to grow.”

Media Contact

Ken Bikoff, Faculty Liaison and Public Relations Officer
Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs | Indiana University
onnews@indiana.edu

About the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs

The O’Neill School is a world leader in public and environmental affairs and is the largest school of public administration and public policy in the United States. In the 2024-25 U.S. News & World Report "Best Graduate School" rankings, the O'Neill School is listed as having the top Master of Public Affairs among public universities and ranks #2 overall out of 271 public and private institutions. In addition, the O’Neill School’s Bloomington campus received #1 rankings in the specialty areas of environmental policy and management, nonprofit management, public finance and budgeting, and public management and leadership.