Opportunities to Enroll Indonesian Students on Your Campus
Indonesia holds an important role in the world. As the world’s fourth most populous country and the only Southeast Asian member in the G-20, Indonesia demonstrates that a large, Muslim-majority country can be secular, democratic, and economically vibrant. Yet despite being an emerging power in a geopolitically important part of the world, relatively few American universities have academic partnerships in Indonesia.
Currently, Indonesia sends more than 40,000 students to other countries each year for university-level study. Approximately 8,000 of those students enroll at U.S. institutions, the majority of whom are undergraduate students. Separately, three major scholarship initiatives from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank, and the Indonesian government currently provide full funding to send Indonesian graduate students to select APLU-member universities.
- USAID’s PRESTASI Program
USAID funds PRESTASI (Program to Extend Scholarships to Achieve Sustainable Impacts) scholarships that largely, although not exclusively, fund Indonesian civil servants to pursue master degrees in technical fields relevant to the development plan set forth by the Indonesia government. USAID is providing nearly $20 million to fund PRESTASI through 2018 to support scholarships that cover up to two years of tuition, fees, travel and living expenses.
For more information on the PRESTASI scholarships and what the funding covers, please click here.
- World Bank SPIRIT Scholarships
Since 2011, the World Bank has funded the SPIRIT (Scholarship Program for Strengthening the Reforming Institution) Scholarships focused on training Indonesia’s civil servants so they are better prepared and equipped for an evolving Indonesia. Beginning next year, the World Bank will extend the program for another five-year period (2017-2023) and has committed more than $300 million to sponsor 2,000 civil servants to pursue up to two years of a master degree program or four years of a doctoral degree program abroad. Scholarship funding covers travel and living expenses in addition to fully covering your institution’s published tuition and fees for up to two years of a master program or four years of a doctoral program.
To be eligible to enroll SPIRIT scholarship recipients, your graduate programs must be ranked in the top 400 globally by a major ranking system such as the Times Higher Education, QS, Shanghai, or U.S. News & World Report.
- The Indonesian Endowment Fund for Education
The Indonesian government has established a $1.4 billion Indonesian Endowment Fund for Education, commonly known as LPDP, which fully funds Indonesian graduate students to complete a two-year master program or four-year doctoral program at universities approved by the LPDP board. Currently, 75 Indonesian graduate students are enrolled at U.S. universities through this program, but there is much room for growth. Next year, more than 2,000 scholarships will be awarded for study outside of Indonesia.
Only institutions ranked as a top 200 global university and/or graduate program may enroll LPDP scholarship recipients. LPDP generally refers to the following ranking systems to determine is eligible: the Times Higher Education, QS, Shanghai, or U.S. News & World Report.
For more detailed information on the LPDP scholarships and what the scholarship funding covers, please click here.
