Nadiem Makarim: We Expand The Inclusiveness Of LPDP Scholarships, Not Only For Masters And Doctoral Degrees But Also For Undergraduate And Non-Degree

Minister of Education and Culture (Mendikbud) Nadiem Anwar Makarim (Photo: nadiemmakarim)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud) and the Education Fund Management Institute (LPDP) are expanding the scope of scholarships, not only for postgraduate students but also undergraduate students.

"We are expanding the inclusiveness of the LPDP scholarship. Not only for master and doctoral degrees, but also undergraduate and non-degrees," said Minister of Education and Culture (Mendikbud) Nadiem Anwar Makarim, at the launch of Merdeka Belajar Episode 10: Expansion of the LPDP Scholarship Program which was monitored in Jakarta, Thursday.

Previous LPDP scholarship program consisting of three scholarships, namely affirmation scholarships, targeted scholarships (Civil Servants, the National Army, the National Police, specialist doctors, educators, entrepreneurship, and special cooperation), and general scholarships, namely regular and major world universities.

Starting in 2021, the Ministry of Education and Culture and LPDP will organize new programs, namely the Merdeka Campus, the program for lecturers and educators, the teacher and teaching staff program, the vocational program, the achievement program, and cultural scholarships.

The Independent Campus program is divided into four, namely the Teaching Campus, internships and certified independent studies, independent student exchanges, and mobility International lecturers and teaching staff programs consist of scholarships for Masters and Ph.D. lecturers, scientific research, research in industry, and internships in world-class tertiary institutions. The next program, namely the teacher and teaching staff program, namely scholarships for domestic and foreign master teachers, teacher certification, and doctoral scholarships for domestic teachers.

Vocational school teachers, scholarships for off-campus vocational activities, apprenticeship certification and training for lecturers and vocational educators, domestic and foreign S2 and S3 vocational lecturers' scholarships, and applied scientific research in the country.

Furthermore, the achievement program consists of S1 outstanding students and scholarships S2 outstanding students. Finally, namely scholarships in the field of culture, which are scholarships for domestic undergraduate, master, and doctoral degrees at home and abroad in the field of culture.

"This is the first time we are providing a special culture program. We help students pursue their knowledge in the field of culture," he said.

Nadiem added that the program's new policy direction was that scholarship beneficiary could carry out high-quality bachelor, master, doctoral and non-degree programs.

The list of destination universities was made systematically, namely an aggregation of the three best world rankings, namely QS, Times Higher, ARWU/Shanghai Ranking), the best universities in selected countries, and the best study programs per topic.

In addition, applicants with a letter of acceptance (LoA) who have been accepted at the destination campus will be streamlined the process, and applicants who do not have an LoA will be assisted in the process of registration.