LPDP's Efforts to Ensure Scholarship Graduates Are Accepted in the Workforce

LPDP President Director Yon Arsal stated that the institution cannot guarantee that LPDP scholarship graduates will secure employment. “Because we are not in that position,” he said at the Ministry of Finance building in Jakarta on Monday, 29 June 2026. However, the purpose of LPDP scholarships is to ensure recipients are ready to work and compete in the job market. LPDP collaborates with universities to select study programmes. “We send our students to top universities. This automatically enhances their reputation,” Yon said. LPDP also collaborates with overseas campuses to channel LPDP graduates into the workforce. For example, top universities in China. “So that graduates can be channelled to companies from the respective countries,” he said. Additionally, several campuses have entrepreneurship programmes. LPDP is also seeking to collaborate with research, industry, and entrepreneurship bodies. LPDP Scholarship Director Dwi Larso said the institution continuously monitors the government’s focus on industrial development targets. From there, LPDP cooperates with Danantara, state-owned enterprises (BUMN), and companies in the downstream sector. Moreover, since 2021, LPDP has focused on Material Science and Metallurgy. Each year, LPDP sends 150 people abroad in the fields of Material Science and Metallurgy. According to him, LPDP graduates are absorbed by the job market. The reason is that LPDP cooperates with several universities and industries in China. When graduates return to Indonesia, they can immediately work in private mineral companies. “In BUMN as well and foreign MNCs operating in Indonesia,” he said. He also claimed that almost 100% of all fields chosen by LPDP are needed by industries in Indonesia. LPDP will open the second phase of 2026 registration from 30 June to 31 July 2026. LPDP provides two programmes: the Strategic Industry STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Scholarship and the SHARE (Social, Humanities, Arts for People, Religious Studies, Economics) Scholarship. LPDP is also reopening the Acceleration Scholarship programme at Top Universities, special cooperation programmes such as the Sports Scholarship, and the National Research and Innovation Talent Scholarship for the Doctor by Research track. The Strategic Industry STEM fields cover the food, energy, defence, digitalisation including artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors, health, downstreaming, maritime, manufacturing and advanced materials, as well as entrepreneurship and creative industries sectors. LPDP also supports funding for STEM-related fields, which include business and economics as well as law and public policy that support strategic industry fields. Meanwhile, the SHARE fields focus on strengthening social, public policy, economic, cultural, educational, and religious aspects that underpin national development. LPDP President Director Yon Arsal said at least 80% of scholarship allocations are focused on STEM and strategic industry-related fields. A maximum of 20% is allocated for SHARE fields. “We continue to increase the STEM allocation; in 2025 it was 66 to 69%, and in 2026 it is 74%. We will try to reach a minimum of 80% for STEM and STEM-related,” Yon Arsal stated at the Djuanda Building of the Ministry of Finance on Monday, 29 June 2026. STEM-related fields are non-STEM disciplines that directly support strategic industry development based on STEM, such as Public Policy, Law, Business, and Economics.