Anies Baswedan

Anies Rasyid Baswedan, Ph.D (born 7 May 1969 in Kuningan) is an Indonesian academician. He is currently the Minister of Culture and Primary & Secondary Education. He was Rector of Paramadina University in Jakarta, Indonesia when appointed by Joko Widodo for the position. He is the initiator and chairman of Indonesia Mengajar (Teaching Indonesia).

As a student, he was actively involved in the Indonesian student movements during Suharto's authoritarian regime. He is known as one of the few Indonesian student leaders from the early 1990s movements to win a Fulbright scholarship and study abroad for graduate school. He is now a prominent political analyst and highly respected young leader in Indonesia. He is also known as one of Indonesia's youngest university presidents.

Education

Baswedan holds a PhD in Political Science from Northern Illinois University, a Master of Public Policy degree in International Security and Economic Policy from University of Maryland School of Public Policy, College Park, and a degree in Business Management from Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He has received several distinguished awards such as the 2010 Yasuhiro Nakasone Awards, the 50 Distinguished NIU Alumni Awards, The Bina Antar Budaya Award (AFS Indonesia) the Fulbright Scholarship, the 2004 Gerald Maryanov Fellow from Northern Illinois University, Indonesian Cultural Foundation Scholarship in New York and William P. Cole III Fellowship from the University of Maryland. He was also awarded the JAL Scholarship to attend Summer Session of Asian Studies at Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan when he was a student at Gadjah Mada University.