KIT Royal Tropical Institute recently joined representatives of Indonesian universities and their Dutch counterparts in Jogjakarta to discuss, strategise and plan their joint work over the next few years to strengthen legal education in the country, particularly in four universities in Eastern Indonesia.

KIT is co-facilitating the new project – known as SLEEI (Strengthening Legal Education in Eastern Indonesia) – with funding from the NUFFIC’s Orange Knowledge Program. KIT joins seven other partner organisations including four law faculties in Eastern Indonesia (Ambon, Kupang, Waingapu, Mataram), two law faculties on Java (UGM and Jentera), and one in the Netherlands (VVI Leiden).

The workshop’s first session featured an engaging seminar hosted by the University Gadjah Mada, which brought together 60 scholars and stakeholders to discuss the main developments in Indonesia’s legal system and their implications for legal education.

During the remainder of the multi-day inception workshop, the project partners reviewed the results of the legal education self-assessments, successfully developed operational strategies for implementing the project and agreed on forms and ways of collaboration. As co-facilitator, KIT – led by Laurens van Veldhuizen – played a major role in ensuring that all partners returned home with a strengthened commitment to the goals of the project and a clear vision of how to implement it in their respective contexts.