No Poverty

UNESA tracks graduation success for its poorest students

Universitas Negeri Surabaya (UNESA) sets a completion target for its students from the poorest households. Every student on a Kartu Indonesia Pintar Kuliah (KIP-Kuliah) scholarship, which goes only to students from families registered as very poor to vulnerable to poverty in Indonesia’s national socio-economic register, or whose parents earn no more than the provincial minimum wage, is funded for the standard length of the programme, at most 8 semesters for a bachelor’s degree, and must meet the minimum grade point average and number of completed credits that UNESA sets, which UNESA evaluates every semester (Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi, Sains, dan Teknologi, 2026; Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi, Sains, dan Teknologi, 2025). Each recipient signs a statement committing to graduate on time with good results. UNESA applies these rules to one of the largest KIP-Kuliah cohorts in Indonesia, with 3,107 KIP-Kuliah students admitted through the 2026 national entrance test alone (Radar Surabaya, 2026), and on 3 August 2026 its Academic Senate set a regulation on the academic requirements, monitoring and evaluation of student scholarships (Senat Akademik Universitas Negeri Surabaya, 2026).

Existence of a graduation/completion target for bottom-quintile students

UNESA funds its KIP-Kuliah students to finish within the standard study period. Ministerial Regulation Number 2 of 2026 on the Indonesia Smart Programme for Higher Education, set on 18 February 2026, limits KIP-Kuliah to students from very poor to vulnerable families (Article 9) and pays their tuition for the standard length of the curriculum (Article 6(2)) (Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi, Sains, dan Teknologi, 2026). The implementing decree of 25 February 2025 fixes that period at no more than 8 semesters for a bachelor’s degree (Table 1) (Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi, Sains, dan Teknologi, 2025). For a KIP-Kuliah student at UNESA, graduating within these limits is the completion target.

Table 1. Funded study period, the completion target for KIP-Kuliah students, by programme level

Source: Secretary General’s Decree Number 7/A/KEP/2025 on the implementation guidelines for the Indonesia Smart Programme for Higher Education.

UNESA sets the grade and credit standard each KIP-Kuliah student must meet every semester. Under Article 23 of the 2026 regulation, the university evaluates every recipient each semester against the minimum cumulative grade point average and the number of completed credits that the university itself sets (Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi, Sains, dan Teknologi, 2026). A student who falls below that standard is coached by the university for up to two semesters, and each recipient commits in writing to graduate on time and to report results every semester (Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi, Sains, dan Teknologi, 2025).

UNESA’s Academic Senate regulates the academic side of every student scholarship. Academic Senate Regulation Number 1 of 2026, set on 3 August 2026, covers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral students and sets the academic requirements and mechanism for awarding scholarships, with monitoring and evaluation to keep scholarship holders’ academic performance on track and to make sure aid reaches the students it is meant for (Senat Akademik Universitas Negeri Surabaya, 2026).

Evidence of monitoring or intervention against that target (progress tracking, mentoring, at-risk alerts)

UNESA follows every scholarship holder’s progress through an academic adviser each semester. UNESA’s 2025/2026 academic and student affairs guideline gives each undergraduate an academic adviser who monitors semester and cumulative grade point averages, guides the course plan and the path to the final thesis, and identifies academic problems, with the stated aims of raising grade attainment and on-time graduation. The same guideline bars scholarship holders from taking academic leave, which keeps them within their funded study period, and sets out the scholarship procedure: selection by the study programme and faculty, verification by the university, appointment by Rector’s decree and a minimum grade point average, with the Directorate of Student Affairs and Alumni publishing each scheme, KIP-Kuliah first among them (Universitas Negeri Surabaya, 2025).

UNESA’s KIP-Kuliah students graduate at the top of their faculties. At UNESA’s 116th graduation on 27 September 2025, a KIP-Kuliah student in Primary School Teacher Education graduated as the best graduate of the Faculty of Education, cum laude with a grade point average of 3.93 (Yulianti, 2025). In August 2026 a KIP-Kuliah student in Pancasila and Civic Education graduated as the best graduate of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, cum laude with 3.91, after also winning Student Entrepreneurship Programme funding and publishing the thesis research in an accredited national journal (S1 Pendidikan Pancasila dan Kewarganegaraan, 2026).