Activities

  1. Research training in the European universities for 8 junior Indonesian faculty members (lecturers holding a master degree and who will take a PhD) during the first two years of the project. They first attended a specific Research Training Program in Banking and Finance to be administered at the University of Limoges during 2 weeks. After that, each junior researcher spent 6 weeks in a partner European university. During their stay, participants were working on a research project and will be co-supervised by a European researcher and a senior Indonesian faculty member.
    This training program consisted of two modules (M1: Writing a Research Paper and M2: Handling Datasets and Softwares) which offer guidelines on:

    • How to prepare a paper for journal submission and to provide clear and useful information of what key elements to include in a paper. Starting from how to select a topic to developing the various sections of the paper, and what editors and reviewers consider when assessing the quality, importance, relevancy, contribution and added value of manuscripts submitted for consideration in quality journals.
    • How to conduct empirical investigations in order to craft a research paper in the field of Banking and Finance. The module covered methodology and tools on how to extract data from commercial databases, to manage these data using specific software, and to run econometric regressions. It consisted of two applied research projects.
  2. Research visits of senior Indonesian faculty members. Each year, 6 Indonesian senior faculty members were spending one month in Europe. The aim is to improve the research exposure of senior faculty members at the international level by developing research collaboration (some of them involving junior faculty members), research mentoring and participation in paper presentations in research seminars in European institutions. These visits also became the occasion for European and Indonesian researchers to exchange on the management of PhD programmes and research activities.
  3. Summer school for PhD students of Indonesian partners for two weeks in Europe. Each year, 6 PhD students attended the summer schools organized in Europe (Limoges, Rome, Crete). The content of the summer schools’ courses depends on the specific research skills of each team organizing the event. Among others:
    Financial Intermediation and Banking Regulation, Financial development and economic growth, Empirical methods in banking and finance research, Advanced quantitative methods and programming.
  4. Organization of a workshop to design new modules for PhD programs in partner Indonesian universities. This event took place in Indonesia in the mid of the second year. 18 faculty members from partner Indonesian universities with a main interest in banking and finance were selected to participate in the workshop. The European researchers were invited to share their best practices and some materials. The participants were given the opportunity to interact with regulatory bodies, bankers, and policy makers. The presented modules were:
    • University of Limoges (Corporate governance of financial institutions(M3); Islamic Banking(M8));
    • University of Rome III (Banking institutions and bank risk management(M1), Banking regulation and financial stability(M6));
    • Bangor University (Market structure, competition, and efficiency of banking markets(M2); Financial literacy, financial inclusion and financial deepening(M7));
    • the Technical University of Crete (Quantitative Finance(M4); Operational research and artificial intelligent-based techniques in banking and finance(M9);
    • Indonesia Financial Services Authority, Bank Indonesia and Indonesia Deposit Insurance Corporation (Indonesian banking, financial market structure, and regulation(M5))

    modules were prepared and presented by European researchers, the last one was provided by senior executives of the Central bank and of the IDIC. The new modules were integrated in 2 Pilot universities (UNS and ITB).

  5. Introduction of new courses in banking in existing Master and undergraduate programs in 2 pilot universities (UNS and ITB).
  6. Exchange of best practices between European and Indonesian administrative staff in charge of the management of research activities and PhD programs were organized in the 4 European universities:
    • Creation and development of an international research network (University of Rome III).
    • Funds raising and development of links between universities and banking industry (University of Bangor)
    • Structure and organisation of PhD program and doctoral school (UNILIM)
  7. Final conference which aims to present project’s outputs to a wide audience (researchers and administrative staff from Indonesian – partner and non-partner- universities, regulators and practitioners, experts and guest keynote speakers) with different sessions aiming to:
    • present and discuss the future challenges in financial regulation, the development of Islamic finance, financial inclusion
    • provide the opportunity to young Indonesian researchers to present their on-going research and to benefit from the feedbacks of the conference participants
    • present concrete examples of good practices on the management of PhD programme and research activities and discuss how these practices can be adopted in Indonesian universities.
  8. Research dissemination to higher education, banking industry and regulators. Dissemination of the acquired knowledge and the new skills in banking to other Indonesian faculty members. The dissemination were implemented in the form of training for trainers. Project’s results, which were expected to bring noteworthy policy implications to the banking industry and financial regulators, were also disseminated through seminars on banking regulation, Islamic finance development or financial inclusion, which were attended by bankers and regulators.
  9. The OPTBank Community Service Program was conducted by Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) and Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS), through three activities. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic the program was carried out through online and/or hybrid sessions, which aims to improve financial literacy and financial inclusion of the community. The three activities were: “The New Normal of Financial Literacy” Webinar by ITB, Capacity Building “Implementation of digital regional financial management: Digital Transformation in Public Finance, and Webinar Peer to Peer Lending and Future Challenges.
  10. Quality assessment activities. Experts were hired to evaluate the quality of the content of the modules, to contribute to the enhancement of PhD programs and research activities management by sharing their knowledge as previous Head of School or Head of PhD program.
  11. Management activities: project meetings, financial and administrative follow-up of the project, reporting