Established in 2011, the LPDP (Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education) provides scholarships for Master’s and PhD programmes. The applicants targeted for the programme are Indonesian citizens with excellent academic achievements and strong leadership qualities who wish to continue pursuing their studies in Master’s and PhD programmes in Indonesia or overseas. The LPDP has provided scholarships to 18,400 students, around 11,000 of whom are now pursuing their master’s and doctoral degrees. Meanwhile, 51 percent of the scholarship recipients furthered their education abroad. LPDP sets a list of the top 200 Universities from which the applicants can apply. This list has undergone a few changes over the last couple of years. The UK has been the number one most popular study destination chosen by the LPDP scholarships awardees.

In 2017, LPDP’s decision to limit the application intake, from four times a year to once a year with the announcement of the results in October has affected many scholarships awardees that chose the UK as their destination. These circumstances have made many awardees defer their offer or amend their study destination.   

Approaching the end of 2017, the LPDP has been undergoing a restructuring process. By the end of December 2017, the Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani announced that Indonesia is set to have a State Perpetual Education Fund, an upgrade of the LPDP. The ministry allocated Rp 10.5 trillion (US$175 million) for the fund last year and Rp 15 trillion for 2018. With the new status, LPDP would receive their funds directly from the state budget instead of the Finance Ministry's budget. The detailed plan of the State Perpetual Education Fund is expected to be presented to the President in the next couple of weeks. This plan will include the policies, the new system, subject focus and criteria of the recipients.

With these changes, President Jokowi expects the scholarship recipients to reflect the diversity of Indonesia. The majority of LPDP scholarships recipients have been from Western Indonesia. President Jokowi expects to be more focused on the recipients from Eastern Indonesia. He also emphasised the importance of mapping strategic areas that need to be developed, especially the areas of Indonesia that are still left behind. More focus on agriculture, engineering and natural sciences are expected. The State Perpetual Education Fund will also cover research and vocational education. President Jokowi expects the research to drive competitiveness in regard to food, energy, digital technology and other productive areas. President Jokowi stressed the importance of the research to be implemented, not only published. Vocational training is considered to be covered in the fund. Rather than only focusing on awarding the scholarships for students, the state perpetual education fund will also focus on developing professionals or skilled workers.

According to the Minister of Research Technology and Higher Education, M.Nasir, it is likely that the state perpetual education fund will double or triple the number of scholarships recipients this year. The government will also focus on the diversification of study destinations. The majority of LPDP student’s havestudied in Europe or Australia, the government would like to see more recipients study in China or the US.

Commentary by Meinanda Chudahman:

Universities are expected to manage their expectations when focusing on the recruitiment of scholarships awardees in Indonesia.  More detailed information on the State Perpetual Fund is expected to be announced in two weeks’ time; however implementation of the changes might take more time.

Despite the diversification of study destinations that is currently being planned, the government also emphasises focus on the areas that are needed and crucial for Indonesia’s future development. Some of the focuses are food security, engineering, natural sciences and tourism which are also part of the UK higher education’s strengths.  The government’s plan to include research and vocational education into the state perpetual education fund might also be the areas that the UK higher education sector can tap into.

Sources:

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2017/12/28/indonesia-to-have-state-perpetual-education-fund.html

https://nasional.tempo.co/read/1045586/jokowi-perketat-kriteria-penerima-beasiswa-lpdp

https://news.okezone.com/read/2017/12/27/337/1836627/pemerintah-ubah-beasiswa-lpdp-jadi-dana-abadi-pendidikan

https://tirto.id/sri-mulyani-akan-ubah-lpdp-menjadi-dana-abadi-pendidikan-cCow

https://infonawacita.com/tahun-depan-beasiswa-lpdp-jadi-dana-abadi-pendidikan/