A total of 92 Brawijaya University (UB) students have qualified for the 2024 Indonesia International Student Mobility Awards (IISMA) program, and will run the IISMA study scholarship program for one semester or for 4 – 6 months.
Director of the International Office (IO) Dr. Didik Hartono, SS., M.Pd. said that those students will depart in odd semesters, namely from May 2024 to September 2024 depending on the host university of each awardee, and will study until the end of the semester at foreign universities.
“Alhamdulillah, from year to year the number of students who pass IISMA program is increasing. This cannot be separated from our efforts to provide training and hold workshops by inviting presenters from IISMA Kemdikbudristek Team and English language training/certification institutions,” he said.
Meanwhile, IISMA starts in 2021, and at that time the number of UB students who passed the IISMA program was 63 people.
“This number is the largest in Indonesia since at that time not many students knew about the program, perharps,” said Didik.
The number of UB students who passed IISMA experienced stagnation in 2022 due to the complexity of the requirements and tighter competition, but again experienced an increase in 2023 to 78 students.
To take part in the IISMA program, students must go through several selection stages starting at the faculty and university level before they can register and finally take part in administrative selection and interview tests at the national level (IISMA itself).
“After passing the university stage, students will be selected again at the national level by IISMA Kemdikbudristek Team. IISMA Kemdikbudristek team will select whether the student is suitable to study at the university he or she chooses,” he said.
Didik added that the selection process carried out by the IISMA Kemdikbudristek Team was similar to national selection to enter state universities through the achievement pathway or SNBP.
“They choose which university they want to choose, but to enter their favorite university, students have to be strategic. So, the student must understand whether his English Proficiency Test score (Duolingo, TOEFL, or IELTS) is appropriate for the foreign university he/she is studying for. If it’s still low then choose a study program that doesn’t have many people interested. This is because foreign universities also have different standard English Proficiency Test scores (Duolingo, TOEFL, or IELTS),” he said.
Meanwhile, the foreign universities targeted are universities with at least a QS 200 ranking or the top 5 best universities in their country.
IISMA is a grant or scholarship program given by the Ministry of Education and Culture to students throughout Indonesia who are in their fourth and sixth semesters.
Students who pass the IISMA program will be connected to universities throughout the world and the courses they take do not have to be the same as at UB.
“The courses taken can be beyond subject. Moreover, previous IISMA program was divided into two regular and affirmation programs. IISMA Affirmation pathway is used to prioritize bidikmisi students and recipients of the Indonesia Smart College Card (KIP-K), as well as students who come from 3T areas (disadvantaged, marginalized and remote),” he said.
Students who pass the regular and affirmed IISMA program will receive an educational scholarship which covers tuition fees at the host university, return plane tickets, visa fees and living expenses. (OKY/UB PR/ Trans. Iir)
