Indonesia government will give 200% fines for scholarship awardee that violated agreement regarding return to Indonesia after their graduation.

Ali Ghufron Mukti, Director General of Resources for Science, Technology and Higher Education from Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education explained that 200% fines come from 100% scholarship that they received plus another 100% fines.

Up to now, Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education (Kemristekdikti) has recorded some cases of with most of the reasons are; they work, get married, or continue another study/course there.

The fines only apply for awardees of government scholarship as they are funded by government funds and required to return to Indonesia as part of give back/contribution for Indonesia.

Commentary by Lisa Wilianto, British Council Indonesia, SIEM Programme Manager, lisa.wilianto@britishcouncil.or.id

For UK Universities that have received scholarship awardees especially that were funded by Indonesia Government funds such as LPDP, it is advised that universities should always encourage their students to return to Indonesia after their study period. If the students would like to continue their study, it should not be conflicting with their scholarship contract.

There are some updates regarding LPDP scholarship from various meetings between British Embassy in Jakarta with LPDP, Bappenas (Ministry of National Development Planning / National Development Planning Agency) and KSP (Kantor Staf Presiden / The President’s Office) on review and expansion of LPDP:
• Ministry of Finance is planning to set aside part of the annual state budget for education to steadily grow the endowment fund with a target to reach IDR 400 trillion in 2030 from its current size of IDR 22.5 trillion. This will start in 2018 with an expected budget of IDR 10 trillion.
• LPDP will be expanded from a BLU (public service unit attached to Ministry of Finance) into a full-fledged sovereign wealth fund reporting directly to the President. The legal status is still in process through a currently drafted Presidential Regulation due for signing at the end of this year. How this will work is still a bit vague and hopefully can be clarified in the near future.
• In the future, the expanded LPDP is said to only hold investment & financial management and budget disbursement role, while relevant ministries (Kemristekdikti, Kemenag/Ministry of Religious Affairs, etc) will take charge of the selection processes and own the programs through a more structured advisory mechanism with President/ VP as head. A governmental regulation will be issued in 2018 on the details of this.
• LPDP will have a managerial overhaul starting Oct 2017 as terms of its executives end. Positions from Executive Director to Heads of Divisions will be tendered out.

Source:
• http://news.metrotvnews.com/news/9K5jGlPN-pemerintah-denda-200-persenpe…-
• Face to face meeting