Different International Organizations such as UNESCO among others, with concerns on heritage conservation have intensively promoted the need to give special attention to the protection, monitor and management of the world heritage in Southeast Asia. Twenty-nine World Heritage Sites are located in Southeast Asia encompasses seventeen cultural heritage and twelve natural heritage scattered in the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia and Indonesia with the most number.
With the intention to expand awareness about the importance of dissemination, management and conservation of the world heritage sites, MNHN in Paris, in collaboration with Center for Sustainable Development Studies of Interdisciplinary Faculty at Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana with the help of Alliance Sorbonne Université has conducted yearly intensive International School for Master Students entitled ‘Human Origin Heritage’ (HOH) since 2018. It is closely linked with UKSW higher education programs and with the European International Master in Quaternary and Prehistory, whose MNHN is a partner.
Overall, the program has the following objectives:
- Open the students to topics at the crossroads of research, conservation and development.
- Open new horizons in terms of participatory science.
- Allow the students to face scientific and heritage natural and cultural challenges in situations that they will meet during their career.
- Provide the students with international and intercultural opening, including close contacts with local communities/ inhabitants of a Human Evolution World Heritage Property.
- Provide the students with an experience of working in project mode.
The HOH program involved mostly Master’s students and some Bachelor’s students of different disciplines coming from different countries. For the first HOH program conducted on May 21 – 7 June, 2018, the program was attended by 37 students from France, Spain, Italy, Cambodia and Indonesia. Then HOH v.02 was conducted between 13-25 May 2019, attended by 23 students from France, Spain, Cambodia, Timor Leste and Indonesia. HOH program V.03 will be conducted between 26 April – 16 May 2020.
The programs mostly took place at Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana, Salatiga and in the vicinity of the Sangiran Early Man World Heritage Center with a number of major phases. Prior to the intensive program in Salatiga and Sangiran, students would access to online courses aimed to provide the students with basic mandatory knowledge and correlated online validation exams. Apart from that, the students will be grouped and introduced to micro-project topics, did networking among the students and supervisors. Once the International students arrived in Salatiga, prior to the departure to Sangiran Site, in the first few days, the activities encompassed lectures and debates and micro-project roadmap development in groups consisting of international and multi-disciplinary students with the supervisors. With field work plan in hand, students and supervisors departed to Sangiran to visit the sites and museums, meet the site stakeholders such as inhabitants, curators, visitors and others and conducted a small seminar involving members of the communities. Student groups presentations and several keynote lectures from researchers, teachers and Ph.D candidates would conclude the whole program.