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n this golden age of scholarships, Indonesia’s millennials now have greater opportunities in higher education and postgraduate studies within and outside the country. Over 50 scholarships are currently available for students who want to achieve bachelor, master or doctorate degrees.

The sources of these scholarships range from the Finance Ministry’s Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP) and the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education’s Educational Scholarships for Excellent and Disadvantaged Students (Bidik Misi), as well as those offered by the Tanoto Foundation, Djarum Beasiswa Plus (Beswan Djarum), CIMB Niaga and BCA Finance. Overseas programs include StuNed of the Netherlands, the Chevening Scholarship from the United Kingdom, DAAD from Germany, the ADS from Australia and the Fulbright from the United States. Their donors are based on different setups in both the private and public sectors.

The market for these scholarships are the millennials, or half of Indonesia’s 261 million population aged between 18 and 34. This group should thank the institutions for providing such generous scholarships that don’t require awardees to work in their respective institutions, most of which have noble aims to develop the country. But how do they keep the awardees on track with their goals after they graduate?

The students’ reasons for applying to the scholarships should first be checked. Scholarship applicants have a variety of reasons, such as insufficient education funding, developing self-esteem, wanting a better career, seeking a transit year before entering the job market, or simply traveling to other countries for free.

Each institution requires a different treatment of each reason to ensure that awardees remain true to the initial aim of the scholarship.

The treatment mainly covers previous study, ongoing study and succeeding study. The donor institution should first prepare awardees for living and studying abroad, at the very least briefing them on necessary mental preparations.

In the second phase, the awardee should report and obtain feedback from the donor regarding their progress in their studies. The last phase is when the donor should maintain its relationship with the awardees, contacting them on career development events. Most scholarships contribute greatly to the awardees’ personal development.

The greatest benefits come from training in soft skills, networking and enhanced domestic life skills. For example, many awardees suddenly become adept cooks after two years of masters study abroad, or even become handy in fixing their laptops or home appliances.

They become accustomed to meeting deadlines for academic papers, electricity bills and doctor’s appointments. These experiences are some of the most valuable that one can have.

Now, the big challenge for the institutions is how to provide a job market for its graduates. Indonesian graduates of the best engineering schools in the UK sometimes cannot face the reality that our industries might not be suited to what they had studied in London or other cities abroad.

To fit market needs with the supply of graduates, let’s look at the infrastructure sector. Currently, massive investments are being made in constructing highways, airports, seaports and railways, in alignment with the government’s vision to develop the urgently needed infrastructure to connect this maritime nation.

Many strategic business and engineering consulting firms are seeking graduates with skills in engineering, infrastructure financing and strategic business. Indonesia still lacks people among the citizenry who are able to contribute to decisions on critical infrastructure investment; we depend mostly on expatriates in this area.

Thus, the scholarship institutions should forecast human resources needs based on this national vision to ensure that their graduates find suitable jobs. The output planning should thus start from the selection of awardees.

During the third phase, the institution can create a talent pool for potential firms, based on the graduates’ resources. On the other hand, scholarship candidates should also select the best university or major to adapt to the nation’s needs.

With better planning from both sides, everyone can get the best return on investment in education after graduation.
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The writer is a port economist with the private Royal Haskoning DHV international consultancy. She is a recent graduate of the masters program in Transportation, Infrastructure and Logistics at the Technische Universiteit Delft in the Netherlands and an LPDP scholarship recipient.