Russia Expands Access to Education, Indonesian Students Can Get Additional Scholarships to 300 People

Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Indonesia Sergei Tolchenov (left) and Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology (Wamendiktisaintek) Stella Christie (right) in a meeting in Jakarta, Monday (22/12/2025). ANTARA/HO-Kemdiktisaintek

JAKARTA - The Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Indonesia Sergei Tolchenov said that the scholarship cooperation between Russia and Indonesia has shown a positive trend in recent years, so that Indonesia has increased the scholarship quota from the Russian Government.

"Last year Indonesia received a quota of 250 Russian Government scholarships. Because the utilization is optimal, we have increased the quota to 300 quotas this year and we hope to increase it again if all of these quotas are used well," said Sergei through a written statement in Jakarta, reported by Antara, Tuesday, December 23.

Sergei explained that the scholarship covers undergraduate, master's, and doctoral levels. Of the total quota of 300 scholarships, about 200 are for undergraduate students, 80 for the master's degree, and 20 for doctoral programs.

According to him, the interest of Indonesian prospective students in the Russian scholarship program is quite high. To date, thousands of prospective students have registered to take the selection.

In addition to regular government scholarships, Russia also provides a special scheme through the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom) and the Russian Aluminium Company (RUSAL). However, the utilization of quotas in the field of nuclear energy still needs to be adjusted to the number of quotas available.

Deputy Head of the Russian Center for Science and Culture Maria Khionaki said Russia provides special scholarships through Rosatom, a state-owned company in the nuclear energy sector, as well as RUSAL, a Russian global aluminum company.

He said Russia would also hold online socialization in the form of a direct presentation from a number of universities in Russia so that prospective Indonesian students could get a clearer academic picture.

"The RUSAL scholarship offers full funding and will be implemented at the Ural Federal University in Yekaterinburg. We also prepare various information materials and brochures so that Indonesian students understand the advantages of this program," said Maria.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology (Wamendiktisaintek) Stella Christie welcomed the increase in the scholarship quota from the Russian Government.

According to him, this cooperation is in line with the vision of the President of the Republic of Indonesia in strengthening the quality of superior human resources.

"We really appreciate the support for scholarships from the Russian Government. This is in line with the President's vision to improve the quality of human resources," said Stella.

However, Stella assessed that the main challenge at this time was not the interest of students, but the dissemination of information that had not reached all potential prospective students, especially from the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

"The main problem we face is the information bottleneck. Many students do not know about this opportunity, or those who apply are not from a STEM background. Therefore, we will strengthen the dissemination of information in a more targeted and systematic way," said Stella.