Study in The UK (Chevening Essay)
It is an old issue that development of Indonesia is imbalance. In fact, the development is focused on the western of Indonesia only. It is proved that there are price disparity and an imbalance in the percentage value of Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) between the eastern and western part of Indonesia. According to Statistic Indonesia, GRDP of Java and Bali reached 58.87% and Sumatra GRDP is 23.77%. This amount differs considerably when compared to GRDP in eastern Indonesia. On the other hand, the GRDP Sulawesi is 4.74%, Papua and West Papua only reached 1.80%.
Commitment of Indonesian Government is to make infrastructure development as one of the national investment. It should be appreciated because it is considered as catalyst of economic equity and reduce economic imbalance among provinces. However, the encouragement of infrastructure development does not mean this problem disappear immediately. Moreover, new problems may arise because Indonesia development issues are faced with specific conditions such as geography, geology, social culture, environment, and risk of natural disasters varying from region to region. This is understandable because Indonesia is lack of the practitioners and academics in the field of development studies, it makes authorities get less input.
Facing this enormous challenge, I am motivated to learn more about development studies. Development studies is a study of how leaders, institutions, civil society, and governments see the Regions and their problems, and solve them. Also, Development studies learn about the mutual relationships between people and their environment in order to meet their needs to achieve their prosperity. Studying this discipline can provide more comprehensive perspective in solving problems related to the relationship between landscape phenomenon of a region (land, climate, morphology, land use) and its economic activities. Furthermore, these disciplines will be very beneficial for the Indonesia that has a diversity of natural and cultural resources.
Thus, I choose three courses from different universities. They are MSc International Development: Environment and Development (University of Manchester), MSc International Planning and Development (Cardiff University) and MSc Global Development (University of Leeds). My experiences related to development issues started during my bachelor degree. Some modules were about relation between regional development and environment issues where it was discussed from geographical point of view. It continued when I worked in financial institution, some projects which dealt with agricultural and industrial research. That background gave me an overview of the field which sparked my interest and lead me to choose the proposed courses.
I believe I will get new skills through them that will allow me to get practical experience by doing field work. In addition, to complement my formation, I plan to take a part time internship at an organization or at university to conduct research related to development studies and learn how to implement real life solutions. I believe that my time in the UK will greatly impact my skill and allow me to become an expert on these issues. Moreover, the course I proposed is becoming the Chevening Indonesia priority which is Sustainability Development.Hi Dimas,
I think Chevening is looking for individuals who are motivated by their professional experience to pursue higher education. The background of this essay should not be dominated by Indonesia's problems, but your personal experience or issues you encountered in your professional career instead. I found the third paragraph, which explains development studies in general, is also unnecessary; it would be better to describe your university choice in more detail, such as how the programs differ at each university and how that specific program could contribute to your professional career.
Good luck!
