Newsletter - 22 June 2026

Australia-Indonesia BRIDGE School Partnership Program
1 day ago
2 min read

As the school year draws to a close in Indonesia and school holidays loom close in Australia, we wanted to take this opportunity to provide a BRIDGE program update to all BRIDGE Alumni.

2026 School Partnerships Announced

Image: Group photo of 2026 BRIDGE recipients and guests who joined the 2026 Welcome Ceremony on Microsoft Teams.

At an online Welcome Ceremony in May 2026, ten new Australia-Indonesia BRIDGE school partnerships were announced. Australian schools were selected from the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Tasmania and matched with schools from the Indonesian provinces of North Sumatra, South Sumatra, East Java, Central Java and Jakarta.

Indonesian teachers will travel to Australia in August, where they and their Australian school partners will participate in a three-day professional learning program in Perth, followed by a five-day school visit and homestay program.

Australian teachers will travel to Indonesia in January 2027. This is a new feature of the program made possible through funding from the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The full list of 2026 school partnerships and teachers can be accessed here.

Welcome Ceremony opening remarks from His Excellency Dr Siswo Pramono, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Indonesia to Australia and the Republic of Vanuatu and Mr Rod Brazier, Australian Ambassador to the Republic of Indonesia, can be viewed on the BRIDGE website.

Image: Map of Australia and Indonesia showing the locations of participating schools.

BRIDGE Grants

The Australia–Indonesia BRIDGE School Partnerships Program offers grant opportunities that enable Australian and Indonesian partner schools to deepen collaboration, strengthen educator engagement and support meaningful learning experiences for students.

An outline of the six school partnerships that were awarded a BRIDGE Collaborative Project Grant and their projects can be explored here.

New to the grant offerings in 2026 are the Lighthouse Partnerships Grants.

These are by invitation only and offered to three school partnerships that have been identified by Asialink Education as demonstrating ongoing commitment to the program. The teachers from these schools have been awarded Teacher Ambassador status.

In September 2026, a further round of grants will be advertised for schools to apply for funding to support BRIDGE school partnership projects.

Image: Australian teacher from Lara Secondary College standing in front of a purple banner with their partner teacher from SMPN 6 Langke Rembong during the school visit to Indonesia. Both educators are wearing Indonesian ceremonial attire.

Asialink Education and Cool Plus Partnership

As part of the 2026 – 2029 Australia Indonesia BRIDGE School Partnerships Program, Asialink Education has partnered with Cool Plus to provide school partnerships with access to quality online learning and teaching materials focused on climate change. We look forward to launching this in August 2026, so keep an eye out for updates!

Do you have a story to share?

With 263 Australia-Indonesia BRIDGE School Partnerships, there are many stories to tell. We would love to hear from you and feature your story of change on our website. Please share with us at bridge@asialink.unimelb.edu.au.

The Australia-Indonesia BRIDGE School Partnerships Program is funded by the Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and delivered by Asialink Education at the University of Melbourne.

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