1. What is LPDP?

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.

2. Key Changes in 2018

All information related to the LPDP changes in 2018 mentioned in this market news is based on documents published by LPDP.

There are three key changes in LPDP 2018 announcements, namely:

  • Type of Scholarship
  • Overseas University List and Subject Choice
  • Timeline and Procedure

All together 4,000 scholarships are available for both domestic and overseas study.

2.1. Type of Scholarship

There are six different types of LPDP scholarships:

2.2. Overseas University List and Subject Choice

LPDP has published its overseas university list for Regular and Affirmation scholarships. Whether or not these two set of lists are applicable for other types of scholarships (Co-Funding, BUDI, Medical Specialist and Dissertation) remains unknown.

2.2.1. Overseas University List and Subject Choice – Regular Scholarship

The university list for this category is based on the Top 20 of three university rankings system (QS, THE) and Top 10 ARWU Subject Choice. There are 65 universities from around the world included in the list, and the UK has 12 universities in this category. See Table 1 below:

2.2.2. Overseas University List and Subject Choice – Affirmation Scholarship

The university list under this category is based on the Top 200 of three university rankings system (QS, THE) and Top 50 ARWU Subject Choice. There are 275 universities from around the world listed included in the list, and the UK has 39 universities in this category. See Table 2 below:

2.3. Timeline and Procedure (for 2019 intake)

Applicants who are selected in 2018 will be able start their study in 2019. However, unlike the previous years, the applicant will no longer have the option to change their university choice after they are selected as scholarships awardees. There are different stages of LPDP scholarship timeline for 2019 intake. Registration will open on 2 July 2018. Students will have three months to prepare all documentations needed for submission on 21 Sept 2018. Different shortlisting methods will be used to process candidates applications:

  • Shortlisting will begin with administrative selection. Announcement of administrative result will be made on 12 Oct 2018.
  • Then computer based selection. It is not clear at this moment whether this computer based selection is designed to test a candidate’s knowledge of the major/subject he/she chooses. Announcement of computer based selection will be made on 17 Nov 2018.
  • Finally “the substantial selection”. It is not clear at this moment how it will differ with the computer based selection. It may well be that “the substantial selection”, based on LPDP alumni experience, will include face-to-face interview, and essay writing.

The application timeline for overseas scholarship application is as follows:

Commentary by Meinanda Chudahman:

The new LPDP timeline might have an impact on student recruitment for the 2019 intake. Therefore, we advise UK universities to:

  • Extend validity of Unconditional Offer (LoA) for 2018 for LPDP applicants so that they can study in 2019
  • Consider opening the application for 2019 intake as soon as possible within this year (2018), in consideration of the LPDP registration deadline of 21 Sept 2018, for the 2019 intake.

We continue to seek further information from LPDP and/or other sources to clarify how exactly the new overseas university list was drawn up. We will produce further market news as this  information becomes available. 

Sources :

LPDP website : https://www.lpdp.kemenkeu.go.id/

LPDP university list 2018 : https://www.lpdp.kemenkeu.go.id/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Daftar-Perguruan-Tinggi-Tujuan-Luar-Negeri.pdf

LPDP list for Affirmation area : https://www.lpdp.kemenkeu.go.id/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/DAFTAR-DAERAH-AFIRMASI-LPDP-TAHUN-2018.pdf