Yangki Suara

In May 2013 I met with Andy Sumner (Director of King’s International Development at King’s College London) when he came to Bandung to present his latest research at FEB UNPAD Lecture Series. He is a good friend of Pak Arief Anshory Yusuf, Director of the Center for Economics and Development Studies – CEDS where I am currently working as a junior researcher.

It took a few weeks for me to decide (i) Should I apply for King’s or (ii) Continue with my 2013 then 2014 plan (MSc in Environmental Sustainability at the University of Edinburgh). I finally decided to apply for an MSc in Emerging Economies and Inclusive Development Programme at King’s College London.

On February 13, 2014 I submitted my applications (online application, one page personal statement, two reference letters, English language certificate – in my case I used IELTS certificate) via King’s Online Applications system. Later on March 18, 2014 I received good news from King’s Admission Officer that my applications for MSc in Emerging Economies and Inclusive Development Programme is successful and it’s unconditional because I have met the English language requirements.

Here are five key reasons why I chose King’s College London;

Indonesia is one of the world’s largest Emerging Economies.
Recent report from OECD – Special Focus: Inequality in Emerging Economies, Indonesia is listed in a group of world’s largest Emerging Economies together with Argentina, Brazil, China, India, the Russian Federation and South Africa. Indonesia’s new road map Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Poverty Reduction (MP3KI) will reduce poverty by 3 to 4 percent by 2025. MSc in Emerging Economies and Inclusive Development programme focuses on promoting equitable and inclusive development: addressing poverty and inequality, supporting the new middle classes, and creating social policies that support long-term equitable growth, particularly for the health and education sectors. Bill Gates (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) in cooperation with Dato Sri Dr. Tahir (Tahir Foundation) recently launch an Indonesia Health Fund to combat AIDS, tuberculosis, polio and malaria.
Opportunity to a PhD level and future research activities.
An integration of STATA skills, Microdata (IFLS, IFLS East, DHS, Susenas), Andy’s and Pak Arief’s research interest that covers global poverty and Southeast Asia, specifically Indonesia.
Access to the best professors.
King’s offer me the access to top-class faculty members. As a member of the University of London, I will also get access to library of the University College London (UCL) and London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Top 20 in the world.
King’s College London is ranked 19th in the world by QS World University Ranking 2013. There are 12 Nobel laureates who were either students or academics at King’s.
London.
King’s is London’s most central university with four campuses by the River Thames between Westminster and the City and one in South London. A perfect combination of good living experience, British accents, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, London Bridge, an opportunity to intern at Mendeley Headquarter (as an Mendeley Advisor) and Gordon & Sarah Brown Office, meeting friends from Global Young Greens and Summer School on Energy and Environment alumni; Maximilien (SOAS), Michael Bloss (SOAS), William Vickery (LSE), Yanis Benzahouane (LSE).

It’s believe that education has a strong relation with income. I guess this is also one reason why we pushed our kids at least to get their bachelor degree (as my parents told me that I have to get more education than them, at least bachelor degree).

I am using data from IFLS wave 2 to 4 (year 1997, 2000, 2007) that is available online at RAND Website to reveals this hypothesis.

I am using the data from IFLS 2 (1997), IFLS 3 (2000), IFLS 4 (2007) to give you some idea of how education can affect your income. Please keep in mind that these graph are the median for all workers in year 1997, 2000 and 2007. In real life, earnings would likely to be even higher at that time depend on who are you asking for. If the business owner with only higher degree might even higher than doctoral degree workers.

In year 1997, 1) workers with less than a high school diploma only get less than half of earnings of high school diploma. 2) The difference between high school diploma and some college workers is not much, and 3) university degree holder earn more than twice as some college workers.

In year 2000, less than a high school diploma workers is still around half of the high school diploma workers. The difference between high school diploma with some college is about half of some college workers and there are only a slight difference between some college with bachelor degree workers. Master degree holder workers earn more than twice as bachelor degree holders.

Earnings in year 2007 follows the trend from 1997 and 2000. High school diploma worker earns 2 times as less than a high school diploma workers. Some college workers earn 50% more than high school diploma. The difference between some college and bachelor degree is not much. Master degree earn almost 2 times bachelor degree and doctoral degree earn 10% more than master degree.