Professor from Leiden University Visits UPI

This meeting was initiated by the interest of Prof. Dr. Olf Praamstra and his colleagues, namely Prof. Dr. Rick Honings, Nick Tomberge and Helen Haak from Leiden University on the Villa Isola building. His visit was also related to the collaboration of books written by a research team from Leiden University, the Netherlands and the Indonesian Education University (UPI), Indonesia. That’s what made them decide to make a visit to UPI.

The statement was delivered by the Vice Chancellor for Research, Business and Cooperation of UPI Prof. Dr Bunyamin Maftuh, M.Pd., MA, after receiving a visit from Prof. Dr. Olf Praamstra and his team from Leiden University. The meeting took place in the Parterre Meeting Room, UPI Bumi Siliwangi Campus, Jalan Dr. Setiabudhi Number 229 Bandung, Wednesday (14/9/2022).

However, he continued, in addition to this, it is possible to establish a very open collaboration such as conferences, research collaborations, lecturer and student exchanges, or other forms of cooperation.

“Anything can happen, but further communication is needed between the two parties. The most likely to be held in the near future are lecturer or student exchanges and conferences.” he insisted.

Actually, he said again, this collaboration has been established between the Head of the UPT National Education Museum, Dr. Leli Yulifar, M.Pd., with a research team from Leiden University in the field of writing books related to the history of Indonesia and the Netherlands.

The Head of the UPT National Education Museum, Dr. Leli Yulifar, M.Pd., said, “Our meeting with Prof. Dr. Olf Praamstra and the team are recommendations from our research partners who have previously conducted collaborative research on the DW Berretty family, the first owner of Villa Isola.”

The results of the research, he continued, produced a diorama and a video interview with the family of DW Berretty which was stored on the 4th floor of the National Education Museum.

“Based on the first research, we have an idea to develop on other research themes. We want to see Postcolonialism in Indonesia from the perspective of 2 nations. On this basis, Prof. Dr. Olf Praamstra and the team at UPI. So this is a continuation of the first research,” he said.

This meeting, he said again, extended to discussing the possibility of other collaborations as stated by the UPI Deputy Chancellor for Research, Business and Cooperation. This collaboration includes research collaborations, lecturer and student exchanges, and international conferences or seminars.

He revealed, “Currently the museum is doing revitalization. The National Education Museum has a colonial era education theme. We want the development of other research themes that discuss colonial education from the perspective of Indonesia and the Netherlands.”

We are currently collecting some references related to these themes. The National Education Museum is also doing digitization with metaverse technology by making a brief outline of colonial education which is still very minimal in existence so that the content has gone through an accuracy process by expert curators from both parties. It is hoped that sustainability doesn’t stop at one point.  

On the same occasion, Prof. Dr. Olf Praamstra said that he and his friends, Prof. Dr. Rick Honings, Nick Tomberge and Helen Haak from Leiden University were very interested in visiting the Villa Isola building, because it is very important for the Netherlands.

“I am very interested in visiting the Villa Isola Building, because it is very important for the Netherlands and this is also part of the collaboration between Indonesia and the Netherlands regarding collaboration in writing history books. This visit is expected to contribute to the cooperation of 2 universities, namely UPI and Leiden University,” he said.