‘Do they need it?’ Influencer scholarships in Indonesia spark concerns about use of student aid
- Scholarships from some private universities are awarded to students based on the number of followers they have on popular social media platforms
Have a huge following on social media? In Indonesia, that might mean you are eligible for one of the many beasiswa influencer (influencer scholarships) now being touted by a number of private universities across the country.
These scholarships – which have only started cropping up in the past few years – provide students with financial aid based on the number of followers they have on popular social media platforms including Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Students must also meet the universities’ academic requirements to qualify for the award.
Observers say these scholarships highlight Indonesia’s unique fixation on social media and could serve as an effective marketing tool for universities, but they have also raised concerns about whether they are diverting resources from academically deserving students in greater need of financial support.
At Universitas Ciputra, a private school in the city of Surabaya, students who have more than 12,000 Instagram followers or 15,000 TikTok followers could have 100 per cent of their annual tuition covered by a scholarship.
Similarly, at the University of Muhammadiyah Malang, students with at least 5,000 YouTube subscribers or 10,000 followers on Instagram could qualify for financial aid.
“There is something very uniquely Indonesian about this … it is not really something that we see in other countries,” said Angga Prawadika Aji, a communications expert at the Airlangga University in Surabaya.