Eramet, a global company in the mining and metallurgy sector operating in Halmahera, is providing scholarships for 42 Indonesian students from North Maluku, Papua and Sulawesi. Eramet committed to support actions to reduce the gap in access to quality education in Eastern Indonesia. To achieve this, Eramet is working with a non-profit organization committed to improving education, to tackle educational inequality in Eastern Indonesia, Kitong Bisa Foundation Indonesia (KBF Indonesia).

The scholarship program is also in line with Eramet’s CSR roadmap, “Act for Positive Mining”, which focuses on accelerating local and sustainable development in communities and operational areas. Eramet’s Chief Sustainability & External Affairs Officer Virginie de Chassey, emphasized that education is key to unlocking wider opportunities.

‘Eramet Beyond’ program’s ambitions, aims in particular to reduce inequalities in education and gender. We are committed to contributing to this mission by providing educational support to communities around our operational areas in every country where we operate.

Virginie de Chassey
Eramet’s Chief Sustainability & External Affairs Officer

The company is also focused on encouraging young people in remote areas to continue their higher education and get the same opportunities as their peers in other regions. “This equality of access to education is what we want to encourage together with all stakeholders,” she said.

Selected scholarship recipients are selected for undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral degrees over the next two years. The recipients will receive tuition assistance, living allowance, and book fees to support their learning process. Through this program, students will also receive additional training to improve their technical and non-technical skills.

Based on existing data, education in Eastern Indonesia is still faced with significant inequality in access compared to other regions. Referring to the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) regarding the Gross Participation Rate (APK) of Higher Education from 2021 to 2023, it was revealed that eastern Indonesia has a lower participation rate. In addition, the dropout rate in Eastern Indonesia reached 4.37% in 2020, higher than the Western Indonesia which reached 3.52%.

The founder of KBF Indonesia, Billy Mambrasar, added that support from the private sector is necessary for improving the quality of education. He recognized the need for synergy from many parties to be able to improve the quality of education for children in Eastern Indonesia.

KBF Indonesia has long been connecting the Government and Private Sector to collaborate. Many of our past collaborations have brought success and positive change to Indonesia. This partnership with Eramet will be an additional milestone for KBF Indonesia. We are also grateful that Eramet has a positive and big vision to help develop the best talents of Indonesia.

Billy Mambrasar
Founder of KBF Indonesia

Meanwhile, KBF Indonesia has opened the registration period for this scholarship program from 27 August 2024 to 6 September 2024. Scholarship recipients are selected based on specific criteria that include academic achievement, economic background, as well as their commitment to return to develop their home regions.

In her remarks, Head of the Administration Subdivision of the Higher Education Financing Center (BPPT) Ratna Prabandari expressed her appreciation for the collaboration between Eramet and KBF. Collaboration between the private sector and the government like this, according to her, is very much needed.

In the future, I hope that improving educational competencies, both formal and informal, will not only rely on the state budget or the government, but also involve other institutions, including companies, to jointly accelerate the development of superior human resources in Indonesia.

Ratna Prabandari
Head of the Administration Subdivision of the Higher Education Financing Center (BPPT)

After this program, Eramet will continue to explore other collaborations to launch initiatives that support local development. Through partnerships, Eramet hopes to drive regional prosperity and deliver sustainable and long-term improvements in quality of life, while remaining aligned with local priorities.