Amjad Mehmood
Islamabad — Indonesia and Pakistan have decades-long brotherly diplomatic ties and share vital religious and cultural commonalities. To strengthen the relationships at the gross root level, the Indonesian government encouraged higher education institutions to offer scholarship schemes for young talented Pakistanis. In a similar context, an orientation session on scholarship schemes was held at the Aims Education System Head Office here in Islamabad from Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII), one of the top-ranked universities in Indonesia.
Dr. BambangSuratno, Domestic Partnership Division Head, and Mr. Ahmad Priyansyah, Staff of International Mobility Division from the Directorate of Partnership/International Office, Universitas Islam Indonesia briefed the participants and 12 standard students by giving a brief presentation about scholarship opportunities for Pakistani students. Introducing the audience about UII, Dr. BambangSuratno said Universitas Islam Indonesia was established in 1945 as a pioneer national university in Indonesia with long-standing contributions to education, research, and community engagement. He informed that UII ranked as one of the leading national universities in Indonesia and was named among Asia’s top 500 universities based on QS Asia University ranking in 2019, 2020, 2022 and in 2023. He shared that UII provided a unique multicultural experience to local and international students by emphasizing unity and respect to improve inclusive education. He said UII offers 26 Bachelor,4 applied sciences programs, 16 Master and 5 Doctoral programs from engineering, computing, social science, textile, religion, and pharmacy domains. He said Pakistani students can find a degree program at the University’s website https://www.uii.ac.id/en/find-a-course/ .
Briefing about scholarship schemes, he said, the majority of scholarships are available for Master’s programs at UII while limited offers are also available for BS and Ph.D. programs. He said UII offers two different scholarship programs titles as KNB Scholarships at Universitas Islam Indonesia and Future Global Leaders Scholarships. Briefing further about the first scheme he said, the Kemitraan Negara Berkembang (KNB) Scholarship is a program to support overseas prospective students from developing countries. This program is offered by the Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology with funding from the Indonesia Endowment Fund (LPDP). KNB provides the experience of studying in top universities in Indonesia and, at the same time, living in one of the world’s most diverse and vibrant societies. By getting the scholarship, students will experience quality bachelor and postgraduate programs managed by 31 prominent universities in Indonesia, including Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII).
He further said UII is committed to educating students to become future global leaders by providing opportunities for international students to learn along with UII. Every year UII offers Future Global Leaders Scholarships (FGLS) to high school graduates and bachelor’s degree holders from overseas with a quota of 50 international students to study in Applied Studies, Undergraduate, and Postgraduate Programs. The interested students can find further details on the University’s website at https://www.uii.ac.id/en/scholarships/ . As a prerequisite, to remain eligible for the scholarship, students must have a minimum GPA of 2.75 on a 4.00 scale during their studies at UII.
Dr. BambangSuratno while sharing the application schedule for scholarships in 2024 said for Bachelor degree programs only one intake applications will be received from 22 January – 28 April 2024 and two slots are available to apply for postgrad application from 22 January – 28 April 2024 and then from 1 October – 2 December 2024 respectively. He said these scholarships cover registration, tuition, and language fees other than health insurance, living, accommodation, book and thesis allowances. However, these scholarships do not cover, air ticket and visa costs.
A foreign student looking forward to studying in the Republic of Indonesia is essentially required to apply for a visa upon receipt of an Admission Letter from Universitas Islam Indonesia or any other university. Before applying for a visa, a student should obtain a study permit issued by the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia.
The orientation session was attended by the Chairman Institute of Southern Punjab/ AIMS Education System (School), Mr.Almass Ayoub Sabir, Executive Directive AIMS Education System, Dr. Moazzam Manawar Sheikh, Special Guest, Mr. Saeed Ur Rehman, Chairman, The Youth Development Academy (TYDA) UK, Editor, Daily The Spokesman, Mr. Naveed Ahmed Khan, and large number of students.