West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil announced educational scholarships for 614 students under the 2022 West Java Future Leaders Scholarship program, here on Monday.

The 614 students receiving the scholarship will study in 116 universities, offering Diploma-1 (D1) to doctorate degrees (S3).

At least 4 of the 116 universities are outside West Java, namely, Gadjah Mada University (UGM), Diponegoro University, Airlangga University, and Surabaya Institute of Technology.

Governor Kamil said that the community’s enthusiasm in participating in the scholarship program remained high in 2022. There were 30 thousand applicants for the scholarship.

“Congratulations, out of tens of thousands of applicants, there are 614 people who receive the scholarships. This is proof that we really care about the future of West Java human resources,” Kamil remarked.

However, the number of recipients in 2022 showed a decline compared to the previous years. The number of scholarship recipients stood at 1,253 in 2021, 1,327 in 2020, and 1,690 in 2019.

The governor revealed that the reduction in the number of recipients was due to budget adjustments for meeting other development needs.

“It is due to budget factors, it used to be Rp25 billion, this year it was Rp9.8 billion,” he informed.

However, he assured that the budget for the West Java Future Leaders Scholarship program will be increased in 2023 to Rp30 billion, including for applications for overseas education.

Kamil advised scholarship recipients to apply learned knowledge to solve existing problems, especially in West Java.

“Hopefully, the recipients will focus on completing their studies on time and I am waiting for them to build West Java in any aspect,” he added.

Source: Antara News