YPMAK to send Papua students to UPN Veteran Yogyakarta
Timika - YPMAK Foundation, which manages partnership funds from PT Freeport Indonesia, is ready to send indigenous Amungme and Kamoro students from Papua to continue their studies at UPN Veteran Yogyakarta.
YPMAK Chairman Dr Leonardus Tumuka in Timika on Sunday said his team had recently met with UPN Veteran Yogyakarta’s leadership to explore collaboration on sending Amungme-Kamoro and five related tribes from Central Mimika Regency, Papua, to study at the university.
“Why are we exploring collaboration with UPN Veteran Yogyakarta? Because it is one of the state universities with many science majors such as mining engineering, geology, and others. We hope more Amungme-Kamoro and other Papuan children will pursue these fields, which are highly needed in the mining industry,” said Leonardus.
Scholarship recipients must maintain a minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of between 2.75 and 3.0 during their studies.
“We have already partnered with Uncen Jayapura, Unipa Manokwari, and Unsrat Manado. We hope this new merit-based scholarship scheme will allow Amungme and Kamoro children to be selected for UPN Yogyakarta,” Leonardus added.
“They have welcomed this initiative. Hopefully, our children can be accepted into UPN Yogyakarta. Although the mining company is in Mimika, without qualified human resources in mining, geology, exploration, and other areas, it will be difficult to compete,” said Leonardus, who completed his doctoral studies in 2015 at the University of the Philippines Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines.
Currently, out of over 4,000 YPMAK education recipients from primary school to university level across various Indonesian cities, only around 31 indigenous Amungme and Kamoro students have been admitted under the merit-based scholarship programme.
“Although only 31 students have entered university through the 2025 merit scholarship programme, we view this positively. Moving forward, we will no longer use the old system because our funding sources are now limited,” Leonardus said.