Alumni Profile
Rosnida Sari is currently Coordinator of the Sociology Study Program in the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at Jember University, East Java and a lecturer at Ar-Raniry State Islamic University in Banda Aceh. Sari’s educational achievements include a Bachelor degree from the Tarbiyah Education Faculty at the Ar-Raniry State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) in Banda Aceh, a postgraduate degree from the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta, and a PhD from Flinders University in South Australia.
In addition to her campus activities, Sari has participated in several capacity-building programs both at home and abroad, including the Ship for Southeast Asian Youth (1996), the Southeast Asian Studies Regional Exchange Program (SEASREP)’s Traveling Classroom Program in Thailand and Malaysia (2000), The 21st Century Renaissance Youth Leader Invitation Program in Japan (2005), the Gwangju Asian Human Rights Folk School (2006), Social Worker Training at McGill University in Canada (2007), Peace- Building Training at the Mennonite University in Virginia (2009), the Sakyaditha International Buddhist Womens Conference in Yogyakarta (2015), and the International Conference on Freedom of Religion and Belief in Jakarta (2017).
In addition to her campus activities, Sari has participated in several capacity-building programs both at home and abroad, including the Ship for Southeast Asian Youth (1996), the Southeast Asian Studies Regional Exchange Program (SEASREP)’s Traveling Classroom Program in Thailand and Malaysia (2000), The 21st Century Renaissance Youth Leader Invitation Program in Japan (2005), the Gwangju Asian Human Rights Folk School (2006), Social Worker Training at McGill University in Canada (2007), Peace- Building Training at the Mennonite University in Virginia (2009), the Sakyaditha International Buddhist Womens Conference in Yogyakarta (2015), and the International Conference on Freedom of Religion and Belief in Jakarta (2017).
Program Highlights
AIMEP was very interesting, and the opportunity we had to meet with members of the Jewish community in Sydney in particular made a lasting impression on me. This was a minority group that I thought I would never have the chance to meet, but the AIMEP program faciitated this opportunity. Another highlight was meeting and chatting with the highly regarded Indonesian activist and academic, Professor Arief Budiman.
On the one hand, I was pleased to learn that Islam is accepted as a religion in Australia. On the other hand, I also learnt about the difficulties that some older members of Australia’s Musllim communities experienced in accepting aspects of Australian culture. As a result, we heard about first generation Muslim parents often experiencing misunderstandings with their children who were born and raised in Australia. Finally, even though AIMEP was only a brief visit, it enabled me to witness the academic climate there – an experience which totally changed my perspective about studying in Australia. As a result, when I was given the opportunity to pursue my PhD I decided to accept an offer from Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia. During my time at Flinders I was actively involved in university life as President of the Indonesian Students Association and also as an OASIS Ambassador – a community which represented interfaith students at Flinders.
On the one hand, I was pleased to learn that Islam is accepted as a religion in Australia. On the other hand, I also learnt about the difficulties that some older members of Australia’s Musllim communities experienced in accepting aspects of Australian culture. As a result, we heard about first generation Muslim parents often experiencing misunderstandings with their children who were born and raised in Australia. Finally, even though AIMEP was only a brief visit, it enabled me to witness the academic climate there – an experience which totally changed my perspective about studying in Australia. As a result, when I was given the opportunity to pursue my PhD I decided to accept an offer from Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia. During my time at Flinders I was actively involved in university life as President of the Indonesian Students Association and also as an OASIS Ambassador – a community which represented interfaith students at Flinders.