Jakarta, Jan 19 (ANTARA News) - Interest among Indonesian students to study in the Netherlands is high, considering its educational expertise in some majors, such as law and agriculture, as well as shared historical background.

Laksmita Dwi, 23, is interested in taking up a master`s degree program majoring in urban planning in the Netherlands.

"As far as I know, the Dutch are good at urban planning, and they have universities with specialization in that field," Dwi remarked during Holland Scholarship Day in Jakarta on Saturday.

According to Dwi, the Netherlands also has livable cities that make it better as compared to other European countries.

"In Amsterdam, for instance, people travel by bicycles. It is very interesting and a plus point for me," Dwi, who is keen on continuing her studies at the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam, noted.

Meanwhile, Towy Aryanosa, 31, who has built a career in the law industry since 2010, is ready to take up the challenge to master law and technology at the Tilburg University.

The Netherlands is the right destination for studying law since Indonesia, which had been colonized by the Dutch for 300 years, adopted the Dutch legal system for both civil and criminal law cases.

Aryanosa said that in future, expertise in the field of law and technology holds importance to catch up with rapid technological developments in the practice of law that is currently still conventional.

"Technological developments are always a step ahead of legal developments. It is very important for us to be able to keep up with that since even our Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law has not been able to accommodate technological developments," he explained.

Hence, by studying in the Netherlands, which has a modern economy, Aryanosa is optimistic of being able to learn legal policies on technological developments that can then be implemented in Indonesia.

According to Nuffic Neso Indonesia`s Director Peter van Tuijl, the number of Indonesians studying in the Netherlands continues to grow at around three to five percent every year.

In 2017, more than 2,500 Indonesians were studying in the Netherlands, including 1,560 undergraduate and postgraduate students, while the rest were students taking up non-degree programs.

Compared with other Southeast Asian countries, Indonesia is ranked first in terms of the number of students studying in the Netherlands.

For instance, only 300 students from Thailand study in the Netherlands each year, while 800-900 students from Vietnam have taken up studies in the Netherlands.

Indonesia`s large population and increasing middle class are viewed as factors supporting the growth of the number of Indonesian students in the Netherlands.

In order to attract more Indonesians to study in the Netherlands, Nuffic Neso Indonesia has, for the sixth time this year, organized Holland Scholarship Day to provide information on scholarships and Dutch studies to the public.

The education fair introduced a selection of scholarship schemes, such as StuNed, Orange Tulip Scholarship, Holland Scholarship, and Orange Knowledge Program funded by the Dutch government, as well as scholarships funded by the Indonesian government, including LPDP, BUDI program from the Ministry of Research and Technology, as well as the 5,000 program doctorate from the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Reporter: Yashinta Difa Pramudyani
Editor: Gusti Nur Cahya Aryani
Copyright © ANTARA 2019