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The valuable coordination of sponsored international education in a modern developmental state

Saling, Kieve Stone LU orcid (2025) In Higher Education
Abstract

This study utilizes a novel analytical framework to examine large-scale development-focused scholarship programs for international higher education. The Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP) is systematically analyzed here utilizing its 2013–2022 annual reports. Applying the orders of worth approach, LPDP’s claims and justifications towards the common good are studied, alongside the organization’s changing policies and practices. Investigation focuses on the perceivable but uncertain value of these programs for the modern developmental state and LPDP’s efforts to overcome these ambiguities. Findings highlight challenges related to the dominant share of justifications based in human capital theory (HCT). In parallel,... (More)

This study utilizes a novel analytical framework to examine large-scale development-focused scholarship programs for international higher education. The Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP) is systematically analyzed here utilizing its 2013–2022 annual reports. Applying the orders of worth approach, LPDP’s claims and justifications towards the common good are studied, alongside the organization’s changing policies and practices. Investigation focuses on the perceivable but uncertain value of these programs for the modern developmental state and LPDP’s efforts to overcome these ambiguities. Findings highlight challenges related to the dominant share of justifications based in human capital theory (HCT). In parallel, justifications based in nationalist sentiments have grown, as have project-centered assertions of worth. These findings are analyzed; the varied inspirational and nationalist rationale LPDP forwards and undertakings it delineates to support its claims are detailed. Reflecting on LPDP’s shifting justifications, the discussion introduces “valuable coordination,” an emergent conceptualization which nuances and problematizes narrow HCT-based understandings of education for development. The paper concludes by reviewing its findings towards better understanding the societal embeddedness of scholarship programs and how harmonization might be improved. In furthering these aims, it suggests future research into Indonesian actors’ reception of LPDP’s justifications.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
keywords
Economics and sociology of conventions, Education for development, Indonesia, International student mobility, Orders of worth, Scholarships
in
Higher Education
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:105021547921
ISSN
0018-1560
DOI
10.1007/s10734-025-01542-9
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2025.
id
5ebdcdc7-4ab0-4331-96de-c1bb6e48d15e
date added to LUP
2026-01-24 10:43:41
date last changed
2026-01-26 12:47:52
@article{5ebdcdc7-4ab0-4331-96de-c1bb6e48d15e,
  abstract     = {{<p>This study utilizes a novel analytical framework to examine large-scale development-focused scholarship programs for international higher education. The Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP) is systematically analyzed here utilizing its 2013–2022 annual reports. Applying the orders of worth approach, LPDP’s claims and justifications towards the common good are studied, alongside the organization’s changing policies and practices. Investigation focuses on the perceivable but uncertain value of these programs for the modern developmental state and LPDP’s efforts to overcome these ambiguities. Findings highlight challenges related to the dominant share of justifications based in human capital theory (HCT). In parallel, justifications based in nationalist sentiments have grown, as have project-centered assertions of worth. These findings are analyzed; the varied inspirational and nationalist rationale LPDP forwards and undertakings it delineates to support its claims are detailed. Reflecting on LPDP’s shifting justifications, the discussion introduces “valuable coordination,” an emergent conceptualization which nuances and problematizes narrow HCT-based understandings of education for development. The paper concludes by reviewing its findings towards better understanding the societal embeddedness of scholarship programs and how harmonization might be improved. In furthering these aims, it suggests future research into Indonesian actors’ reception of LPDP’s justifications.</p>}},
  author       = {{Saling, Kieve Stone}},
  issn         = {{0018-1560}},
  keywords     = {{Economics and sociology of conventions; Education for development; Indonesia; International student mobility; Orders of worth; Scholarships}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Higher Education}},
  title        = {{The valuable coordination of sponsored international education in a modern developmental state}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10734-025-01542-9}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s10734-025-01542-9}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}