Stanford University Denies Plan to Build Campus in Indonesia's IKN; Only Research Collaboration

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Stanford University has denied that it planned to build a campus in Indonesia’s Nusantara Capital City (IKN), North Penajam Paser, East Kalimantan. The private research university in California, United States, also stated that it had not signed any agreement with Indonesia.

“Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability does not intend to build any physical institution in Indonesia,” Stanford representative, Mara K Vandlik, said in an email to Tempo on Friday, March 15, 2024.

Vandlik said that the school officials have only agreed to explore opportunities for collaboration on research and education projects in areas that have a connection between Stanford's scholarship and Indonesia's sustainability goals.

Previously, Antaranews agency reported that Stanford University would begin building a campus in Indonesia. “Hopefully, they will start building a campus in May,” said Bambang Susantono, head of the IKN agency (OIKN), in an online seminar in Jakarta on Friday, March 8, 2024.

Bambang recently clarified that Stanford would not build a campus in IKN yet. “[It is] a research center. We will focus on a research center,” he said after a meeting with President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, on Wednesday, March 13.

He claimed that cooperation to build a research center with Stanford alumni would be a starting point, as building a university requires many things.

The OIKN reportedly signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, Stanford University, California, United States, on Wednesday, November 15, 2024. In its official statement, Stanford alumni planned to build a research center building in Indonesia. 

DANIEL A. FAJRI

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