This summer, the TC Beirne School of Law took fifteen Bachelor of Laws students to study in Indonesia. The students embarked on a two-week trip to study Indonesia’s efforts at fighting corruption. Exploring issues of anti-corruption, integrity and corporate governance in Indonesia, the students mixed academic study with field-based learning.
Bachelor of Laws student Angus Dick was grateful for the cultural and educational perspective that the trip afforded. “Through transporting me to Indonesia and showing me the human challenges of law enforcement, Transnational Perspectives on Law demonstrated how widely the skills I have gained from UQ can be applied to create change, and provided new and exciting experiences along the way.”
The project was led by Professor Simon Bronitt, Deputy Dean (Research), whose interest in anti-corruption efforts in Indonesia has fostered a number of recent collaborations between the TC Beirne School of Law and UQID, DFAT and Indonesian leaders in this field. Professor Bronitt has also driven an expansion in the number of short term international study opportunities available to students over the past 12 months.
The School encourages all students to take part in some form of overseas experience during the course of their degree. Angus Dick understands the School’s motivation to encourage students to take advantage of these opportunities. “During formal university studies, it is sometimes easy to lose the broader context for your degree. It is tempting to see study as culminating in grades, and see only the benefits to you as an individual.”
The project in Indonesia was funded in part through the Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan Mobility Program. This program supports students to visit 40 different locations across the Indo-Pacific region for periods of short-term study.
In early 2018 UQ law students will have an opportunity to study similar themes in China through another New Colombo Plan project.
