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ENPASAR: Bali administration has allocated Rp 1 billion (US$112,000) for a scholarship program to encourage more university students to study “unpopular” subjects such as ancient Javanese literature, Balinese literature, archaeology and anthropology.

“Each [selected] student will receive a Rp 2 million scholarship,” Bali Education Agency head Wayan Suasta said Saturday, adding that the program will provide 500 scholarships to students at six state and private universities.

Ancient Javanese Literature is offered as an undergraduate degree at Udayana University’s Faculty of Letters. Ten students enrolled in the program in 2010, a decrease from the already minuscule number of 30 students who had enrolled in 2009, he said.

“The scholarship program is our strategy to make these departments more attractive for senior high school graduates,” Suasta said.

I Wayan Ardika,Udayana University’s Faculty of Letters dean, lamented that few and fewer students were interested in enrolling in his department.

“Many students believe unpopular subjects offer them bleak prospects for finding a job. In fact, I can testify that not a single graduate of that department has been unemployed.” — JP