Indonesia opens doors wider for international students

“We want more foreign students in Indonesia, so administrative processes must improve. Universities should focus on academics, while services must be simpler, faster, and more predictable,” said Hermawan K. Dipojono, a representative of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology.

According to ANTARA, he noted that the visa application process often forms a foreign student’s first impression of the country, making reform at this stage particularly important for strengthening Indonesia’s attractiveness as a study destination.

Experts currently highlight several challenges in the system, including lengthy processing times, relatively high fees, limited transparency and weak integration between government agencies. To address these issues, officials propose allowing international students to submit visa applications independently and pay the required fees using an official admission letter issued by their university.

The updated system is expected to reduce the administrative burden on universities, enabling institutions to concentrate more fully on teaching quality and monitoring students’ academic progress.

Meanwhile, Muhamad Najib, Director for Institutional Affairs at the Higher Education Directorate of Indonesia, added that the reforms may include lower student visa fees, the cancellation of visa charges for scholarship recipients at public universities, the removal of mandatory exit requirements when transferring between institutions, and permission for students to take part-time work in teaching, research or internship programmes.

Earlier, it was reported that Indonesia and Uzbekistan had begun negotiations on free trade agreement.