USAID awards $3 million to Georgia State for joint master’s program with Indonesian university

Indonesia's next generation of fiscal policy experts will earn dual master's degrees in applied economics at Georgia State University and Gadjah Mada University in the province of Yogyakarta on Java Island. Georgia State was awarded $3 million by the United States Agency for International Development-Indonesia toward the program, which will begin this year.

As many as 30 staff members of the Fiscal Policy Office at the Ministry of Finance of Indonesia - the country's fiscal policy think tank - will earn dual masters of science degrees under the cost-sharing agreement in a program developed by Georgia State's Andrew Young School of Policy Studies' International Studies program.

Prior to their arrival in Atlanta, Indonesian students will attend a rigorous one-year English language-intensive master's program at Gadjah Mada designed by the Andrew Young School in conjunction with one of its alumna, Artidiatun Adji. Adji directs the graduate program in economics and business at Gadjah Mada and she will lead the new program.

"Our school has been involved in Indonesia since its 1999 transition to democracy, and involved in its fiscal reforms since it decentralized its government in 2001," says Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, International Studies program director and a Regents Professor in the Andrew Young School at Georgia State.

Andrew Young School Dean W. Bartley Hildreth said, "This program highlights the global reach of the Andrew Young School and the draw of its world-class faculty. Our experience confirms that these partnerships advance a new group of leaders into roles that help build the policy infrastructure in their own country."

In 2002, the Andrew Young School started its first USAID-funded Indonesian masters program, awarding degrees in applied economics to 55 Indonesian students, including civil servants. They returned to work in Indonesia, building the country's fiscal capacity and enhancing its economic performance.

Seven remained at Georgia State to earn doctoral degrees in economics, including Adji. Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Indonesia's Minister of Finance, was an Andrew Young School visiting scholar in 2002.

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Fayette County Teacher’s Creative Approaches to Economic Education Gets State Recognition

Shelby Garner with students (L-R) Christyan Best, Todd Perry, Uvi Tega, Kaitlyn Peterson and Courtney Shaw.

It might be surprising to know that economics is the favorite subject for some third graders at Spring Hill Elementary in Fayette County. It is also the favorite subject of their teacher, Shelby Garner.

The enthusiasm she and her students have for economics is what led the Georgia Council on Economic Education to select Garner as Georgia’s Economics Teacher of the Year. For over eight years, Garner has used a program called Mini-Society to educate her students about economics. The program, for ages 8-12, takes students through the process of creating their own society and helps them understand more about math, law, entrepreneurship, economics, government and ethics.

Third grade teachers throughout the school system successfully use Mini-Society to teach economics, but it is Garner who has been credited with growing the program’s success.

“Ms. Garner was one of the teachers I selected in 2000 to be a pilot teacher for the Mini-Society program. I selected the teachers I had confidence in to make the program succeed and then, more importantly, help the program grow throughout our third grade,” says Social Studies Coordinator Dr. Cathy Geis, who nominated Garner for the award.

Garner’s successful approach to teaching economics concepts is through creative, experimental exercises she uses to help her students remember what they learn long after they leave her classroom. She likes to use the element of surprise when introducing the concept of scarcity.

“One day while the kids were at recess, I went around the school and covered all the water fountains with a paper bag and labeled them ‘Out of Order.’ I handed each child a cup and passed around a jug of water without telling how much each could have, letting the problem arise on its own. Students who did not get any water were upset. The next day we set up this same scenario and it was amazing how the situation was handled differently,” she says.

Garner has used the program for over eight years and each year she adds something new. She says she realizes that students talk about their experiences so she is constantly brainstorming new scenarios to keep the element of surprise for which she has become known.

“My students come to school every day with an eagerness and desire to learn. I truly believe that I am preparing my students for the economic choices they will have to make in the future and their responsibilities as an active citizen in our society,” she says.

Garner has found that economics is not just limited to social studies but also addresses language arts and math. Her students write paragraphs for job applications in language arts and they read books such as “Frindle,” “Toothpaste Millionaire,” “The Flag We Love,” “Max Malone Makes a Million,” “Umps Fwat,” “Rent a Third Grader,” “ A Bargain for Francis,” “City Green” and “If I Made a Million.” She strengthens their math skills by teaching them how to use a checkbook to make deposits and withdrawals.

Garner credits the Mini-Society program for giving her the confidence to teach economics. She confesses that she worried in the beginning if she could teach difficult economic terms to her students since she was not sure if she truly understood what the terms meant.

“This program has made me become a very confident teacher of economics. I have often thought about changing grade levels, but teaching economics through Mini-Society is the main reason I do not want to leave third grade,” she says.

Garner will officially receive the teacher of the year award at a special luncheon on May 13 at the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta.

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