LPDP Scholarships are Inclusive, Focus on Finding Top Talent

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Director General of the Education Fund Management Agency (LPDP), Sudarto, emphasised that LPDP scholarships are inclusive and focus on finding top talent within the country.

This statement aims to correct misconceptions regarding the eligibility of scholarship recipients based on their economic background.

“LPDP is truly focused on finding the best Indonesian talent to access top-tier global education. It must be inclusive,” Sudarto told reporters at the Ministry of Finance office, Jakarta, Wednesday (25/2) evening.

Sudarto said that LPDP strives to provide equal opportunities for talented Indonesians to access higher education.

One of the efforts undertaken also includes affirmative action scholarships specifically for children from Papua, designated regions, underprivileged backgrounds, people with disabilities, and sports.

The affirmative action scholarship has reached 127 cities/regencies with a cumulative total of 14,983 recipients.

For 2026, affirmative action scholarships will account for more than 25 percent of the total number of education fund recipients.

Regarding the spotlight on children of officials receiving scholarships, Sudarto said that they also belong to the group entitled to receive scholarships because LPDP does not require an economic background as a condition.

However, he suggested that prospective applicants with adequate financial means choose the partial scholarship route, where LPDP only finances 50 percent of the education and the rest is paid by the recipient with personal funds.

“This is an appeal, if possible, choose not a full scholarship but a partial scholarship, so that we can finance more scholarships,” said Sudarto.

As of 2026, the LPDP scholarship program has supported 58,444 degree scholarship recipients, as well as 583,171 participants in collaborative programs with the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology (Kemdiktisaintek) and the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen), and 42,160 recipients of collaborative scholarships with the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Starting in 2021 to 2026, the scholarship program is directed in a more measurable way towards strategic fields, including STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), food and marine industries, energy, health, defense, digitalisation (including artificial intelligence and semiconductors) as well as downstream industries, manufacturing, advanced materials, entrepreneurship, and the creative industry.

LPDP recorded that currently there are approximately 38 thousand scholarship recipients who are studying.