Since 2010, the government has launched scholarships (Bidik Misi) for outstanding students who come from underpriviledged families.
UGM supports this government program. Every year the number of students admitted at UGM increases. Below are the profiles of some of the Bidik Misi scholarship recipients.
Bagas Wants to Treat Patients
The spirit for study of Bagas Wahyu Setiyaningsih raises admiration. When her friends mostly stayed at a boarding house, she chose to ride on her motorcycle as long as 16 km every day from her home in another town, Ngawi, to SMAN 2 highschool in Magetan.
Despite the long journey for her age, Bagas always came out among the best in her school. Later on, she has been admitted at UGM Nurse Sciences. In high school, she has been active in girl scouting and youth Red Cross services. She has also been admitted at another health polytechnic.
Her father, Rahmanto, sells noodles in their local market which yields some 1 million monthly. According to her mother, Suprapti, the father often gets sick and once even hospitalised.
“If he didn’t get to work, we wouldn’t have money,” she said.
Now, after Bagas has been accepted at UGM, the family hopes that in the future Bagas will be able to get a decent job and helps ease the burden of the family.
Bertha Wants to Become Prosecutor
Initially, Bertha Rany was dubious to enroll at UGM as her grades at private classes did not turn up well. But due to the support from her parents, Bertha has later been accepted at UGM Law Faculty.
She wants to be a prosecutor. Graduating from SMAN 1 Magetan high school, she made outstanding achievements since the start. She was also active in girl scouting and dancing.
Her parents, Hendro Widiyanto and Manis Rahayu, encouraged her to be a prosecutor. Hendro is a journalist at a corruption watch newspaper. Their monthly income averages Rp 1.5 – 1.7 millions.
Her father said that Bertha was a mature, responsible, and hard working girl. They were thankful she could finally get the scholarship.
Yeni Wants to Develop the Forest
A quiet girl, Yeni Epi Susanti has made many achievements. For a number of times, she represented her high school, SMAN 2 Magetan, in maths olympiad in their regency. Now, she has been accepted at UGM Faculty of Forestry.
“They say (studying at) Faculty of Forestry is lots of fun and it connects with the nature,” she said.
She considered work opportunities in forestry are open. Living for quite a long time near the forest and agricultural land has driven her to study Forestry.
Her parents, Siman and Partini, work at paddy fields in Magetan with average income reaching as low as IDR500 thousands to 1 million. Partini was touched and proud that her daughter got accepted and received sholarships at UGM.