Why Indonesia?   Indonesia is one of the most fascinating countries in the world. Its 230 million inhabitants make it the fourth most populated country on the globe, with more than 300 hundred different ethnic groups whose cultural spectrum ranges from indigenous stone-age like tribes in the remotest areas of West Papua to traditional century-old civilizations and modern-urbanized areas in Java and other main islands. Indonesia consists of 17,508 islands and has a vast area of untouched nature that hosts the world’s second highest level of biodiversity in a unique ecosystem. After roughly 350 years of Dutch colonial rule Indonesia proclaimed its independence on the 17th of August 1945. Although the last decades have been marked by ethnic and religious unrest, military interventions and economic crises, Indonesia took an over-all astonishing favorable development towards a democratic state, with an economy growing at 4 to 5% p.a. despite the global economic crisis. Roughly 90% of the population are Muslims, but Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism are also officially recognized religions. Indonesia's national motto 'Bhinneka Tunggal Ika' (unity in diversity) has helped to keep the many ethnic groups together without major clashes, and the common language Bahasa Indonesia chosen for the new state shortly after its independence was selected from one of the very small and weak minorities to prevent any feeling of domination by one group. There are still a lot of new challenges ahead, such as poverty, sustainable management of the large natural resources, improvement of infrastructure throughout the country and last but not least the upcoming of more fundamental religious movements. Indonesia is also one of the most beautiful countries with an enormous variety of different landscapes and world-famous cultural monuments, offering plenty of personal contacts and culinary delights, which make this country an extraordinarily fascinating place to study in its Universities and to explore it in multiple aspects. Yogyakarta Yogyakarta, capital of the old Kingdom of Java and now of the Special Province of Yogyakarta, is a very traditional and charming student town. The Palace is still seat of a Sultan, the tenth from the same family in the past centuries. The city represents, together with Solo the center of the traditional Javanese culture and encloses thousands of ancient temples from past kingdoms. The artistic atmosphere is deeply felt in Yogyakarta by preserved traditional art styles, like the leather puppets used for shadow plays, the unique style of making batik dyed fabric, but also from a flourishing contemporary art scene. Almost 100 universities and colleges have made this city also the focus of higher education in Indonesia. Yogyakarta is surrounded by lash green rice paddy fields, natural beaches with white and black sand are found in the South, and in the North mountains rise over 3000 m high, among them one of the most active volcanoes in the world, Mt. Merapi. The largest known Buddhist temple Borobudur and the equally famous Hindu Temple Prambanan near Yogykarta are the most worthwhile cultural artifacts to visit. (c) 2009 by ASEA UNINET, Innrain 52a, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria E-Mail: asea-uninet@uibk.ac.at  -  Phone: +43 512 507 5161  -  Fax: +43 512 507 2714