President Prabowo Opens Education Sector to Global Partners

RRI.CO.ID, Washington D.C. - President Prabowo Subianto, highlighted Indonesia’s education transformation agenda at the Indonesia–U.S. Business Summit 2026 in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, 19 February 2026. He presented new achievements in expanding schools and universities. He also invited global institutions to collaborate with Indonesia.

He said education remains central to Indonesia’s long-term development strategy. He stressed that human capital investment will determine the country’s competitiveness. His government is accelerating expansion in higher and secondary education.

Before outlining cooperation plans, Prabowo described concrete steps already underway. He said the government is building new universities and schools this year. He emphasized collaboration with foreign institutions.

“Education for me is very important. I am establishing 10 new universities. We are starting to build this year 500 new high quality schools. Working together, inviting foreign institutions of education to come to Indonesia.” he said.

Prabowo added that Indonesia is actively opening its edèucationèqng to Indonesia.

“We are opening up the education sector. I have just come back ⁵⁵ the United Kingdom and talking to great universities there. Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College, King's College, University College London, etc, etc. And they are also very interested in coming to Indonesia and also inviting American institutions to work with us in Indonesia.” he said.

According to the transcript, Prabowo is establishing 10 universities focused on science and medicine. He also acknowledged a shortage of 140,000 medical doctors nationwide. Indonesia currently graduates around 10,000 doctors annually.

In addition, hfe said expanding universities is necessary to close this healthcare gap. The new institutions will prioritize science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine. This approach aims to strengthen Indonesia’s human resource capacity.

Prabowo framed the education push as an open invitation to global partners. He said Indonesia seeks long-term collaboration in research and academic development. The message signals Indonesia’s readiness to engage the world in building its future workforce.