SYDNEY, March 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- In December 2023, students from the UTS Bachelor of Criminology program completed a unique internship program in Jakarta, Indonesia, as part of the Australian Federal Government's New Colombo Plan initiative. This initiative aims to "lift knowledge of the Indo Pacific in Australia by supporting Australian undergraduates to study and undertake internships in the region."

The UTS Bachelor of Criminology prepares students to face the transnational nature of crime with practical social science knowledge and skills, meaning an overseas study experience with one of Australia's closest neighbours is an important and highly valuable experience. One of the students, Ashly Liu, writes about her experience.

We were sent to Jakarta for two weeks where the company International Internships hosted us. Our main task was to work in groups of three and conduct research on a selected vulnerable group and their access to justice in Indonesia. Our final report and presentation were then critiqued and reviewed by the Academics at the University of Indonesia.

To better understand the social groups and presiding societal issues, we visited the local criminology agencies, conducting live interviews in correlation to our topics. We were also able to gain expertise from partnering up with local student interns from the University of Indonesia. Through my research project, I was able to explore the topic of vulnerable women in narcotic related crimes, and how they can access justice in the local Criminal Justice System. I worked collaboratively with a fellow UTS student as well as a final year criminology student from Universitas Indonesia.

One of the key experiences for me in this process was being able to interview the people from the local agencies such as Amnesty Indonesia, Legal Aid, Commission on Violence against Women, Commission on Human Rights, Integrity Asia, Australian Embassy, IDN Media and more. It was really eye opening to have these professionals tell us about the ways our systems differ from each other, and also understanding how the socio-economic and cultural values affect how they view crime.

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