Garuda Schools send 388 graduates to top universities worldwide

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2 hours ago

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Indonesia’s Garuda Top School program enabled 388 students to gain admission to prestigious universities worldwide during the 2025/2026 academic year, the Government Communications Agency (Bakom) reported.

Addressing a press conference in Jakarta on Wednesday, Bakom Head M. Qodari noted that the figure is 177 percent higher than the 140 Garuda School graduates admitted to universities in the previous academic year.

He pointed out that the latest graduates had been accepted into various world-class universities overseas, including the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, the University of New South Wales in Australia, and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Qodari also mentioned successful admissions to the University of Toronto in Canada, the University of California, Berkeley in the United States, Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands, and Paris Sciences et Lettres University in France.

He attributed the achievement to the program’s comprehensive talent development, supported by partnerships with overseas universities.

Garuda Top School students receive preparation for SAT and IELTS examinations, foreign-language proficiency programs, personal branding and essay-writing training, character development, and assistance with applications to universities worldwide.

Qodari also highlighted the 2026 Garuda Scholarship, which has supported 515 students in pursuing higher education in Indonesia and overseas.

The scholarship has enabled students to study in Australia, Singapore, Canada, China, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, South Korea, Belgium, France, and Hong Kong.

Indonesia implements the Garuda Top School program through two schemes. One focuses on establishing new senior high schools operated directly by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology.

Four schools have operated under the scheme since the 2025/2026 academic year, located in South Timor Tengah District, East Nusa Tenggara; East Belitung District, Bangka Belitung Islands; South Konawe District, Southeast Sulawesi; and Bulungan District, North Kalimantan.

The other scheme involves integrating existing high schools into the program following assessments of their academic capacity and track records.

In 2025, the government transformed 12 high-achieving schools into Garuda Schools, followed by another 30 this year. The schools are spread across 15 provinces nationwide.

The government aims to integrate at least 80 schools into the program by 2029, with 20 schools planned for designation in 2027 and 18 more in 2028.