Indonesia's Higher Education Ministry Split: What Kemdiktisaintek Means for Students
By Muntasir Minhaz • Published Aug 07, 2026 • Education News & Policy, Study in Southeast Asia
Indonesia split its education ministry into three on October 21, 2024. Higher education, science, and technology now sit under their own ministry, Kemdiktisaintek, separate from schools and culture.
🎓 Kemdiktisaintek covers universities, research, and science and technology policy
Basic and secondary schools moved to a separate Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education
Culture became its own Ministry of Culture
Brian Yuliarto has led Kemdiktisaintek since February 2025
💵 LPDP scholarship policy and quotas are now announced through this ministry
What happened on October 21, 2024
President Prabowo Subianto's government broke up the former Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) into three separate ministries. Higher education, science, and technology went to a new Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology, commonly shortened to Kemdiktisaintek. Basic and secondary schooling went to a new Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen), and culture became its own Ministry of Culture, according to the ministry's official record .
The split took effect the same day Prabowo's Red and White Cabinet was sworn in. It reversed a merger that had put schools, universities, culture, and research under one roof since 2021.
What Kemdiktisaintek runs
Kemdiktisaintek now handles policy for every public and private university, research funding and direction, and national science and technology programs. It runs through three directorates general: one for higher education, one for research and development, and one for science and technology initiatives. Brian Yuliarto, a professor from Institut Teknologi Bandung, has led the ministry since February 2025.
If you deal with any national-level higher education matter as a student in Indonesia, from degree accreditation to research grants to the LPDP scholarship, Kemdiktisaintek is now the ministry setting the rules, not the old combined education ministry.
Why the government split the ministry
The stated goal is tying higher education more directly to Indonesia's national development targets, including a push toward 8% annual economic growth by 2028-2029, alongside poverty reduction, food security, and energy self-sufficiency goals, per the British Council's summary of the ministry's reorganization documents.
The ministry names five problems it wants a dedicated mandate to fix: graduate unemployment, which rose from 4.8% in 2022 to 5.2% in 2023, weak research infrastructure and science career paths, frequent policy changes that create uncertainty for institutions, university curricula misaligned with what employers need, and inconsistent government research funding. A standalone ministry moves faster on these than a combined ministry juggling schools, culture, and universities at once.
What this means for students and LPDP funding
The clearest practical effect so far is on LPDP, Indonesia's state-funded overseas and domestic scholarship program. Since the split, LPDP's quota decisions and policy priorities are announced by Kemdiktisaintek's minister directly, tying scholarship allocation to the ministry's STEM and national-industry priorities rather than a broader education agenda that used to include schools and culture.
If you plan to apply for LPDP or any government-backed university funding, follow Kemdiktisaintek's official site directly for announcements rather than the old Kemendikbudristek channels, since higher education policy no longer runs through that ministry.
The split also changes who to contact for accreditation questions or complaints about a specific university program. Kemdiktisaintek, not the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, now owns oversight of degree-granting institutions, so any dispute or query about program accreditation status routes through Kemdiktisaintek's directorate general for higher education rather than a general education ministry helpdesk.