UNAIR NEWS – Not long ago, Times Higher Education (THE), one of the global university ranking institutions, has released its Impact Rankings 2021. The Impact Rankings is a ranking that assesses the success of a university to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this ranking, Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) managed to achieve 90th place for No Poverty goal.
According to Dr. M. Hadi Shubhan, S.H., M.H., C.N., as UNAIR Director of Student Affairs, it is an outstanding achievement and in line with one of UNAIR’s visions to become a leading university at international level. Furthermore, the Faculty of Law lecturer said that the achievement was also following UNAIR’s core value, Excellence with Morality.
“This aspect of Morality underlies the achievement of No Poverty,” he added.
Provide various scholarships
The lecturer, known better as Hadi, said that this achievement needs to be improved. Therefore, his unit continues to make various efforts, especially in the field of Student Welfare, to increase the number of recipients of educational scholarships and educational aids for students from poor communities.
“At the end of 2020, 9,286 undergraduate and vocational students or around 30 percent of students had received scholarship supports. It is far above the regulatory obligation that requires a minimum of 20 percent of students receiving scholarships,” explained the 48-year-old lecturer.
Hadi said that there were several scholarships provided by UNAIR related to “No Poverty” goal. For example, the KIP College (bidikmisi) has 1,400 students per batch, UKT(Single Tuition Fee) assistance worth 2.4 million for 2400 students during the pandemic, UKT reduction for 5,000 poor students or affected by the pandemic, UKT exemption for 2000 final semester extension students, and the ability to pay UKT in installments for 2,428 students.
“In the future, the number of scholarship recipients needs to be increased, both in terms of the quantity of students and the quality of the sum assistance,” he said.
Minimizing misallocation
It is undeniable that the number of scholarships or aids provided by UNAIR for poor students is sometimes taken advantage of by some students who are actually well off. To minimize this, Hadi explained that the selection stages for deserving students must use a verification system, and if necessary, a direct survey will be conducted.
“Especially for KIP College recipients, if they are found out to be rich students, they will certainly be dismissed. Anyone can report to us about it. Other students who need help can apply for merit scholarships that are not related to the financial conditions,” he explained.
Finally, Hadi hoped that there would be no poor students who cannot continue their studies because they cannot afford to pay tuition fees or pay for living costs. (*)
Author: Nikmatus Sholikhah
Editor: Feri Fenoria
