BANDOENGSE TECHNISCHE HOGESCHOOL FONDS (BTHF) GRANTS
Main Objectives
To enforce the education and research at the Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), and to improve the ties between Indonesia and The Netherlands by stimulating active Dutch institutes and companies in Indonesia to support these objectives.
Main Activities
A Memorandum of Understanding between ITB and BTHF is agreed upon to carry out the following activities:
1. Ganesha prize
- Yearly Ganesha prize to the best ITB Bachelor graduate student
- Provide the prize winner funding for scholarship in the Netherlands
2. Research and Exchange
- Subsidies for education-related materials and/or instruments
- Subsidies for selected research projects
- Subsidies for exchange visits / fellowships
- Incidental subsidies
BTHF Ganesha Prize
1. Outline and Mission
BTHF is a foundation that has the objective to improve education and research at ITB. In doing so, BTHF stimulates Dutch institutes and companies active in Indonesia to support above objective and thus to improve the relation and scientific cooperation between Indonesia and the Netherlands. The Ganesha prize is one of the instruments of BTHF and ITB to achieve the objective of cooperation.
2. Ganesha Prize Winner and Runner Up
The Ganesha prize is awarded each year to the overall best undergraduate student of ITB. Besides the prize winner a runner up will be selected.
3. Eligibility
All students of ITB that have finished in the preceding year their BSc are eligible to win the prize. The BSc subject of the student does not have to be linked to the scientific focus as determined for the BTHF research grants.
4. Prize
The Ganesha prize will (besides a certificate) consist of 2 components:
- Cash prize of € 1.000.
- A scholarship to the Netherlands for the winner for a period of up to 3 months to work at a Netherlands university, institute or other knowledge partner; costs covered will be travel (international and national), visa, insurance, lodging and some limited research costs (literature, attendance fees for conferences, etc).
The Ganesha prize winner will get the cash prize and will be given the opportunity for the scholarship. The scholarship must be claimed within 3 months after the awarding of the prize, including the contacts in the Netherlands with the institute where the scholarship will take place. In case the Ganesha prize winner will not be able to make use of the scholarship, the scholarship opportunity will be offered to the runner-up. At the end of the scholarship and upon submission of a report on the mission, a completion award will be given of € 500, (either to the winner or the runner-up).
5. Selection Process
The selection process will be the full responsibility of ITB. The procedure and selection criteria that will be as follows:
- The selection will be undertaken based on The Guidelines on Selection of Best Undergraduate Students, issued yearly by the Directorate of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Culture, The Republic of Indonesia
- In February, the Institute of Student’s Affairs of ITB will send a letter to all Faculties in ITB about the selection.
- The faculties will make an announcement to all ITB students about the selection for best faculty student; for requirements reference is made to the Guidelines
- Students who are eligible to be candidates are selected by a team (consisting of several assigned lecturers). The selection will be carried out within maximum 1 months, through a process of interviews, considering their talent, academic achievements, English capability and their activities in the student’s union.
- Each faculty will select 3 (three) students with high scores and send only the best student as the representative of the faculty to be selected as the best student at ITB level.
- In the selection process of ITB, all candidates from all faculties should prepare a 20-30 page paper with a specific theme, i.e. “to be a smart Indonesian Student with good Character”, and will present that paper in front of a selection team which will consist of several academic and non-academic staff.
- After the presentation the selection team will conduct a short interview and evaluate their performances.
- The winner and runner-up will be announced within a week after the selection.
- The Rector of ITB will issue the decree about the ITB best student and the student will be sent as a representative of ITB to the National selection organized by the Directorate of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Culture, The Republic of Indonesia.
- The National Selection will be scheduled in August.
- ITB through the office of the Vice Rector of Communication, Partnership and Alumni, will in August inform BTHF the name of the best ITB student and the date that the awarding ceremony will take place.
- The selected student will be awarded the Ganesha Prize during the inauguration ceremony of new ITB students in August.
6. Award Ceremony
The Ganesha prize will be awarded to the winner during a short formal ceremony. The ceremony will be chaired by a representative of the ITB rectorate. BTHF will be informed on the date of the award ceremony and will take care that a Netherlands representative will attend the ceremony. Press attendance will be stimulated to cover the ceremony.
7. Reporting
No reporting of the Ganesha prize selection and awarding is needed. The scholarship to the Netherlands should be completed with a short report that describes the activities carried out during the scholarship and lessons learned. For BTHF no report is needed about the scientific results of the scholarship. It might be that the institute where the scholarship has taken place would like to receive a scientific report.
BTHF Research Grants
1. Outline and Mission
BTHF is a foundation that has the objective to improve education and research at ITB. In doing so, BTHF stimulates Dutch institutes and companies active in Indonesia to support above objective and thus to improve the relation and scientific cooperation between Indonesia and the Netherlands. BTHF Research Grants program is dedicated to contribute to promoting science and technology, to the industrial, economical and social benefit of Indonesia.
2. Research Fields to be supported
The yearly research grant focusses on a specific scientific theme in which the Netherlands has a strong scientific reputation. This will increase the enthusiasm of scientific staff to initiate and/or continue cooperation with Netherlands research groups. The present theme are Substances and Materials, Life Sciences, Information Sciences and Automatic Control, Environment and Energy. These themes will be interpreted from a wide perspective.
3. Eligibility
- Applicants must be researchers at ITB (regular staff at MSc and PhD level) who are personally engaged in graduate-level research projects in faculties or research institutes respectively affiliated with the university.
- All grants of BTHF will have an incidental and complementary character and can be made available in combination with other financial and/or immaterial aid from other sources.
- Research to be funded should be joint research with Netherlands research groups.
- Research carried out in the framework of Netherlands assisted cooperation project in Indonesia (universities, consultants, etc.) are encouraged.
4. Budget, duration and conditions
a. Budget
The yearly budget for research and staff exchange grants together is € 20.000. The maximum individual grant is € 5.000 which means that maximum about 4 of grants can be awarded.
b. Purposes for which grant funds may be used:
- remuneration
- instruments, devices and/or apparatus
- laboratory supplies and/or experimental reagents
- travel expenses
- miscellaneous (printing, communications, etc.)
c. An advance of the full grant will be remitted by BTHF to the grant recipient upon approval of the grant; any unused funds will be returned to BTHF at the end of the project. Any tax involved will be borne by the applicant.
d. Duration
The maximum duration of the project will be 1 year. In exceptional case a duration of 2 year could be accepted
e. At the end of the research two kind of reports should be submitted to ITB and BTHF: i) a report or (draft) publication describing the results of the research carried out, and ii) a very brief description (max. 2 pages) of the activities carried out under the research grant with findings and recommendations for BTHF.
5. Screening Process
a. Research groups may submit proposals to ITB.
b. ITB will arrange the yearly submissions based on specific Application Guidelines for BTHF Research Grants and select maximum five proposals for consideration by BTHF.
c. The criteria that ITB will apply to rank the proposals are:
- Scientific excellence
- Clarity of the proposal (content, objectives, approach, activities, budget items, etc.)
- The degree of cooperation in the research with Netherlands institutes and professionals.
d. BTHF (Daily Board) will decide which proposals will be granted. They will basically use the same criteria.
6. Reports
- After completion of the project, the grant recipient will submit a research report to the ITB and BTHF prepared following a specified format.
- Separate from the scientific research project a short description will be given about the expenditures in the project, certified by ITB.
- When results of grant-supported research are published in scientific journals by grant recipients, acknowledgement should be included in the following way: This research was (partially) supported by BTHF Research Grant.
BTHF Grants for Staff Exchange
1. Outline and Mission
BTHF is a foundation that has the objective to improve education and research at ITB. In doing so, BTHF stimulates Dutch institutes and companies active in Indonesia to support above objective. BTHF Grant for Staff Exchange is dedicated to improve the quality of academic staff in ITB and to provide the opportunity for create partnership with Netherlands researchers.
2. Activity to be supported
The BTHF Grant for Staff Exchange provides support for one of the following activities:
- Researcher’s visit to Netherlands research institutes or universities in joint research program.
- Lecturer’s visit to Netherlands universities in academic program benchmarking.
- Staff exchange in doctoral double degree program.
- Staff exchange in post-doctoral program.
The staff exchange should relate to water management. This theme will be interpreted from a wide perspective, i.e. not only hydraulics, hydrology etc., but also related subjects such as water economics, water governance, water and food, etc.
3. Eligibility
- Applicants must be academic staff or PhD students at ITB who has initiated communication/cooperation with the university or research institute in Netherlands.
- Eligible staff must be under the age of 45
4. Budget, Duration and Conditions
a. Budget
The yearly budget for research and staff exchange grants together is € 20.000. The maximum individual grant for staff exchange is € 5.000 which means that maximum about 4 research and staff exchange projects can be awarded.
b. Purposes for which grant funds may be used
- International air line tickets
- Visa, insurance
- Living allowance during the visit
- Small research costs (such as conference fees, literature, etc.)
c. Duration: The period of the visit/exchange will be 1 – 3 months.
d. The staff exchange should take place within one year after the grant was awarded.
e. At the end of the staff exchange a brief report should be submitted to ITB and BTHF describing the results and experienced of the fellowship.
5. Screening Process
- Eligible staff may submit proposals to ITB.
- ITB will arrange the screening process based on specific Application Guidelines for BTHF Grant for Staff Exchange and select maximum five applicants for consideration by BTHF.
- BTHF will decide which applicants will be funded.
Yearly Time Schedule for BTHF Grants
Ganesha Prize
- February: Call to departments to nominate their best undergraduate student
- April: Selection of best students of Faculties
- May/July: Selection process of best student of ITB (Ganesha Prize winner)
- August: ITB informs BTHF on the names of the winner and runner-up and date of the award ceremony
- August: Award ceremony
- November: Ultimate date that the winner has to notify ITB and BTHF that he/she will make use of the scholarship opportunity
BTHF Research Grants and Grants for Staff Exchange
- March: Call to departments to submit proposals
- End March/Early April: Evaluation and selection of proposals and forwarding 5 proposals for research grants and 5 proposals for staff exchange to BTHF
- End April: Decision of BTHF on the proposals that they like to honour (maximum yearly costs of € 20,000 for research grants and staff exchange together)
- May – February: Research or staff exchange period
- 28 February: Submission final report to ITB and BTHF
For more information about BTHF, please visit: https://bthf.nl/