UNAIR NEWS - Currently, Lembaga Pengelola Dana Pendidikan (LPDP) Scholarship is the main interest of students in Indonesia to continue their higher education. Such is the case for Wildan Haffata Yahfitu Zahra, an alumnus of History Science, Faculty of Cultural Sciences (FIB), Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR).

Haffata officially became an LPDP scholarship winner at the College of Arts and Law, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, in August and will begin her studies in mid-September.

"I got an offer at the College of Arts and Law in the Master of Art History program. It just so happens that I have a great interest in the specialization of applied public history and the campus is very supportive of my interests. We even got permission to study several other specialization modules such as contemporary history or global history," said the FIB UNAIR alumni.

Becoming an Outstanding Graduate

Haffata herself was listed as an outstanding graduate of UNAIR in 2018. This is due to several awards she won in national competitions while studying at UNAIR.

During her studies, Haffata conducted several research projects and managed to get research grants from the faculty. She has also written a book entitled Bara Api Kemerdekaan which was released last year. (read here).

In this case, Haffata is often selected as a panelist at national and international conferences. Such as the Historical National Conference 2021 and the International Conference on Indonesian Culture (ICONIC) 2020. Both are organized by the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Not only excelling in academics, Haffata also often participated in community service programs during college through AUBMO. This experience helped Haffata get to know herself, train teamwork, and ultimately make it easier to answer self-profiling during LPDP selection.

"For me, all aspects that I went through during my undergraduate studies are very helpful for applying for the LPDP scholarship. I am grateful that I had smooth progress during my studies, so the achievement index requirement is sufficient," said the outstanding UNAIR alumnus.

In addition to these aspects, of course, the experience she expressed through her curriculum vitae and personal statement was also taken into consideration by the scholarship organizers. Haffata also observed that LPDP scholarship interviewers have an interest in research projects or student contributions related to the scientific field she studied.

"If we have done research, we have more value in the eyes of scholarship organizers. I am also grateful to FIB UNAIR who gave a grant in 2017 to my team. So, my experience in research has increased," said Haffata.

"But to underline, I think there are many ways to grow and we can organize it ourselves. Because all efforts in terms of self-development are always appreciated in scholarship selection," she added.

Preparing for Scholarships While Working

After her undergraduate studies, Haffata continued his career as a tutor at the Surakarta branch of Prosus Inten tutoring and consulting agency. She is responsible for providing counseling and training for 12th-grade high school students who are preparing to enter public universities. Of course, it is not easy for Haffata to prepare for scholarship applications in the midst of a busy work schedule.

"In my case, preparing for the LPDP selection while working after my undergraduate studies required tight scheduling. In preparing for the language test, I had to study in between work and still take online courses after work," said the UNAIR History alumni.

For Haffata, starting further studies requires mental readiness and a lot of time investment. Especially if you want to apply for a scholarship, it certainly requires extra preparation because the steps that applicants pass will be more diverse. Thus, it is important to have good self-management.

Haffata also suggested recognizing targeted scholarships while still in college, in the sense of understanding the qualifications that the organizers ask for. So that students can map out how long we need to develop.

"Each scholarship organizer has its own criteria to measure the capability of applicants. So if we recognize the requirements early, we've already won halfway. It gives us more freedom to prepare ourselves," she explains.

Through the scholarship, Haffata hopes to contribute more to the field of history scholarship in Indonesia. She also plans to study applied humanities research in the United Kingdom and explore applied public history, so that historical scholarship can become more applicable and impactful.

Writer: Aidatul Fitriyah

Editor: Binti Q Masruroh

Source : unair.ac.id/dulu-wisudawan-berprestasi-kini-raih-beasiswa-lpdp-di-uk