KNB (Kemitraan Negara Berkembang) Scholarship

Who can apply

Bachelor's applicants: maximum age 21 as at 31 December of the intake year, holds a high-school diploma, minimum English score TOEFL ITP 477 / TOEFL iBT 53 / IELTS 5.5 / TOEIC 510
Master's applicants: maximum age 35, holds a bachelor's degree only (an existing master's holder cannot apply for the master's track), minimum English score TOEFL ITP 500 / TOEFL iBT 61 / IELTS 6.0 / TOEIC 575
Doctoral applicants: maximum age 40, holds a master's degree, must name a supervisor at the specific KNB partner university and provide that supervisor's letter, minimum English score TOEFL ITP 530 / TOEFL iBT 71 / IELTS 6.0 / TOEIC 640
English certificates must be within two years of application, with an exemption if the previous degree was taught in English or the applicant is from a majority English-speaking country
Recommendation letter from the Indonesian Embassy or Consulate in the applicant's country of origin, not country of domicile
Passport valid at least through 31 December of the year after the intake year
Will not marry an Indonesian citizen or another KNB scholar, and will not become pregnant, during the award

A wide-reach programme with a genuinely long track record

KNB began after the 1992 Non-Aligned Movement summit, originally restricted to NAM member countries before Indonesia lifted that limit in 2002 and opened it to a much wider set of developing countries. The official site states it has supported 2,299 students and alumni from 107 countries since 2006, across a network of 47 partner universities inside Indonesia, spanning bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral study.

The requirements scale up sharply by degree level, not just the age limit

Each level has its own separate bar on age, prior qualification and required English score, and they are not interchangeable. Bachelor’s applicants need only a high-school diploma and the lowest English threshold (TOEFL ITP 477 or equivalent), but master’s and doctoral applicants face progressively higher English minimums, up to TOEFL ITP 530 for doctoral applicants, and a hard rule that an existing master’s holder cannot apply to the master’s track at all, only to the doctoral one. Doctoral applicants carry the heaviest extra requirement: they must already have identified and secured a letter from a specific supervisor at their chosen KNB partner university before applying, which means the university and supervisor search has to happen well before the application window opens, not during it.

The route to application runs through your embassy, not straight to Indonesia

KNB is not a direct online-only application. Applicants first download the official offering letter from the KNB portal, then take that letter and a full document set to the Indonesian Embassy or Consulate in their own country of origin, specifically, not wherever they currently live, to obtain a recommendation letter. Only after that embassy step can an applicant complete the online application on the KNB site itself. Budgeting time for the embassy visit and processing, on top of the application’s own document list, is worth doing well before the window opens.

The coverage is broad, but Indonesia’s own guidelines don’t publish a rupiah figure

The 2026 guidelines describe wide-ranging support: a settlement allowance, tuition for both the Indonesian-language preparatory year and the regular class, a living allowance, a research and book allowance, accident and illness insurance, one-time funding toward a scientific article for postgraduate scholars, and both outbound and return airfare. What the guidelines reviewed for this entry do not do is attach a specific rupiah amount to any of these line items, so treat any fixed figure quoted on a third-party listing site as unconfirmed until Indonesia’s own documentation states one.

A few unusual personal-conduct conditions apply during the award

Beyond the academic and document requirements, the 2026 guidelines include conditions not common on most scholarships covered on this site: recipients must not marry an Indonesian citizen or another KNB scholar during the award, and must not become pregnant during it. Applicants weighing KNB against other funding should read the current year’s guideline document in full for the complete rule set, since these conditions carry real consequences for continuing the award.