Fulbright vs. Dikti

Last week, I was interviewed for my Ph. D scholarship application by Dikti (Indonesian Ministry for Higher Education). I knew the interview schedule last minute before the D-Day - Friday evening, one of my colleague texted me - and Saturday morning, 8.30am, I was in Surabaya for an interview.

I'd love to compare - head to head - about my first experience interviewed by Fulbright (that conducted by AMINEF/American Indonesian Exchange Foundation) and my second experience interviewed by Dikti. For those who pursue scholarship, you're gonna love it!

1. Fulbright dengan sopan mengirim surat undangan resmi kepada para kandidatnya, baik melalui email maupun mengirim langsung surat undangan ke alamat kandidatnya. They also phoned me, asking for confirmation either the I could attend the interview or not. Pengiriman surat dilakukan 1 bulan sebelum hari-H interview, lengkap dengan alamat dan jadwal interview. Meanwhile, Dikti memberikan pengumuman melalui website resminya H-4 dalam format Ms-Excel. Tidak ada surat undangan baik melalui email, surat langsung ataupun telepon. Jika kolega saya tidak meng-SMS saya, most probably I'll miss the interview.
2. I noticed only 5 candidates interviewed by the Fulbright comittee at that time, while Dikti got 46 candidates attend the interview (out of 67 candidates), baik dari S2 maupun S3 khusus dosen.
3. Fulbright memberikan jadwal interview Pk. 10.30 - 11.00 dan tepat Pk 10.30, I'm called to go into the interview room and the interview starts. Exactly at 11.00, interview ends. Dikti scheduled the interview at 8.30am, and I go into the interview room at 3.30pm. Cuma selisih 7 jam - dan trust me... mereka (para dosen) yang menunggu giliran interview, "ngentang", doing nothing but chit-chat with others... Padahal ini orang2 pintar yang kalau waktu menunggunya dibuat untuk research atau publikasi, pasti udah menghasilkan karya-karya yang bisa dibanggakan Indonesia. Saya juga terjebak ngentang di sana selama 7 jam (beruntung saya bawa buku untuk bisa saya baca).
4. Interviewer Fulbright adalah 2 orang bule dan 1 orang Indonesia. Mereka bertanya tentang topik research dan rencana ke depan setelah saya menyelesaikan studi. Interviewer Dikti ada 2 orang Indonesia yang lebih cenderung menanyakan seberapa siap (both mentally and intellectually) saya berangkat. They're very nice people, not so intimidating... I think I'm just lucky, because in the other tables, the interviewer quite intimidating.
5. Interviewer Fulbright said nothing about my chance to get the scholarship, while Dikti's interviewers said, "in this table, you're the best among the others" in the end.
6. After interview, Fulbright gave some money to cover the transportation cost, while Dikti provided some snacks to make sure we're not faint during the long-waiting-time.
7. Fulbright program tidak mensyaratkan ikatan kerja, sementara untuk aplikasi beasiswa Dikti, ada syarat ikatan kerja di Universitas asal selama 2N+1 (N adalah lama studi). Jadi jika berhasil menyelesaikan studi 3.5 tahun, maka ikatan kerja di Universitas asal adalah 8 tahun. Saya siap melepaskan beasiswanya jika ikatan 2N+1 diberlakukan secara ketat untuk bekerja Senin-Jumat, 08.00-17.00 (mending beasiswa dilepas dan jadi dosen LB).

Jadi, begitulah... My Doctorate Journey still going to take looooonggg time.