Study grants

16 May 2008

Indonesia is offering 10,000 scholarships to foreign students as part of its cultural diplomacy until the year 2015. For 2008-2009 academic year, the government is offering 750 scholarships to overseas students who wish to study the Indonesian culture.

With the facilities, recipients are encouraged to study the Indonesian language, music, traditional dances, and other socio-cultural sciences at Indonesian universities.

The program, codenamed Darmasiswa, which appears to represent part of Indonesia’s cultural diplomacy, was started in 1974. Up to 1975 only students from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were allowed to join. In 1976, however, thanks to increased interest from foreign students, the government opened the gate wider and immediately afterward students from Hungary, Norway, Canada, Sweden, France, Australia, Japan, Germany, and the US, flowed in.

The number of scholarships will continue to increase in line with demand. For next year, for instance, the number of scholarships will be increased to 1,000 and then to 2,000 in 2010. From that year on there will be an annual increase of 1,000 scholarships until 2013. In 2014, the number of scholarships will be raised to 7,500 and in 2015 up to 10,000 scholarships will be granted to foreign students studying at Indonesian universities, according to an official government announcement.

There are five types of Darmasiswa program being offered.

  • Regular Darmasiswa is the scholarship for foreign students to study Indonesian language, native dialects, traditional music, traditional dances, and handicraft for a year.
  • Short-course Regular Darmasiswa is a program under which one can choose either to study Indonesian language for six months, or deepen his/her mastery of the local language in order to facilitate his self-financed studies at undergraduate and/or graduate levels.
  • Darmasiswa-Plus scholarship is a program under which foreign students may take those courses and spend 10 hours each week teaching foreign languages at Indonesian high schools for a year.
  • Darmasiswa Plus Other Subjects is a scholarship for foreign students to add four more courses to their majors, which subject matters that are compatible with or recognized by universities in their home countries so that they may later on pursue dual degrees.
  • Special Darmasiswa for Dual Degrees is a scholarship for foreign students to study Indonesian language for 12-18 months to facilitate completion of their undergraduate studies or for 24 months during their graduate study periods. For this, however, the universities at which they enroll must have established cooperation with partner universities in the foreign students’ home countries.


The scholarship includes exemption from tuition fees, a monthly food allowance of Rp 1 million and a further Rp300,000 allowance for clothing.

Foreign students wishing to get this scholarship should submit: an application form, copies of academic transcripts, a health certificate issued by legally recognized medical doctors, five 4x6 centimeter photographs, and a copy of passport which is at least still valid 18 months before its expiration date. All these students must have a good mastery of English language.

Foreign students living outside Indonesia may register themselves at the Indonesian diplomatic missions in their home countries and send the application papers to the following address:

Head of the Bureau of Planning and Overseas Cooperation, Department of Education, Building C, 6th and 7th floor, Jl. Jenderal Sudirman, Senayan, Jakarta, Indonesia, Phone: (021) 5724707, 5738181, 5709445, or 5711144, Ext. 2610, Fax: (021) 5724707, 5738181, 5709446; Or to: Director of Public Diplomacy Department of Foreign Affairs, Jl. Taman Pejambon No. 6, Jakarta, Indonesia, Phone: (021) 3813480 - Fax: (021) 3858035.

The Indonesian government does not provide travel expenses to prospective foreign students except to those coming from Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Myanmar as well as to students from several Latin American or other countries recommended by Indonesian embassies or consulates there.

The Indonesian government provides ticket allowances to a maximum of 100 students from ASEAN countries (US$300 each) and to 150 students from non-ASEAN countries (US$700 each).

Prospective students are advised to come under internationally registered health insurance protection because the Indonesian government provides only limited health insurance schemes to scholarship awardees.

The type of visa required for this purpose is Limited Stay Permit (VISTAS) that can be obtained from Indonesian embassies and consulates abroad. This visa will later be converted into a year-long stay permit upon arrival in Indonesia. Tourist visas are not allowed for this purpose.

The annual arrival date for such students is August and courses start in mid-September each year. The government does not pay for the students’ accommodation, but the universities at which they enroll will help find the right accommodation (rented house or room) for them.

Every student will be fetched at the airport upon arrival in Indonesia by government liaison officers based on information from Indonesian diplomatic missions abroad.

The number of foreign students taking advantage of these scholarships was 402 as of 2007-2008 academic year. They came from 76 countries.

 

More information please visit: http://www.darmasiswa.depdiknas.org/english/index.php