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New ministries put a halt to scholarship fund
The inspector general of the now-defunct Education and Culture Ministry, Haryono Umar, said on Thursday that the merging of the ministryâs higher education directorate general (Dikti) with the Research and Technology Ministry, may result in the postponement of disbursement of domestic and international scholarships as well as operational funds for universities until April next year
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he inspector general of the now-defunct Education and Culture Ministry, Haryono Umar, said on Thursday that the merging of the ministry's higher education directorate general (Dikti) with the Research and Technology Ministry, may result in the postponement of disbursement of domestic and international scholarships as well as operational funds for universities until April next year.
President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo has rearranged the two institutions into the Culture and Elementary and Secondary Education Ministry and the Research and Technology and Higher Education Ministry.
Under the 2014/2015 state budget, which was proposed by Jokowi's predecessor, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and approved by the House of Representatives in mid-August, the Education and Culture Ministry, now officially the Culture and Elementary and Secondary Education Ministry, received Rp 80.7 trillion, of which Rp 41.5 trillion was allocated for Dikti.
Haryono said that Dikti could not use its Rp 41.5 trillion budget next year, including the scholarship funds, until the House officially moved its budget from the Education and Culture Ministry to the immersed Research and Technology and Higher Education Ministry through a discussion of the 2015 revised budget in the House slated to take place from January through April.
Dikti manages thousands of state and private universities as well as the disbursement of scholarships and research funds for thousands of university students studying in the country and abroad.
'If you are a student studying in Indonesia you might be able to borrow money [from relatives] if the scholarship funds is postponed, but what can students do if they are studying abroad? Students abroad will face financial troubles for about at least three months,' Haryono said.
