Germany offers grants to graduates

JAKARTA (JP): The German government is offering grants of up to Dm 20,000 (Rp 33.4 million) to Indonesian graduates of German universities.

The grants will enable alumni to finance their needs for work equipment or start their own enterprises.

Project manager of World University Service in Germany, Petra Loch, said a maximum of Dm 20,000 for work equipment and a maximum of Dm 18,000 of working capital for small and medium- sized enterprises would be provided to each grant recipient through Deutsche Ausgleichbank.

Only those who graduated after January 1991 may apply for the grant for purchasing work equipment, while Indonesian graduates that have returned since April 1988 are eligible to receive the working capital grant.

Those eligible may apply to the German Ministry of Economy and Development Cooperation.

There are about 14,000 Indonesians who have graduated with a German degree. However, only a few have taken advantage of this longstanding program. (09)