Surabaya, E Java (ANTARA News) - The University of 17 Agustus (Untag) in Surabaya, East Java, presented a scholarship program to martial arts of pencak silat athlete Amri Rusdana, who won a bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Games.

Untang Rector Dr Mulyanto Nugroho remarked here on Saturday that the scholarship for Rusdana, who majors in Informatics Engineering, was an award given by his campus to motivate him to make more achievements.

"This is a form of appreciation to lecturers, employees, or students who have performed well at national or international levels. We will free Rusdana from tuition fees until graduation, in addition to presenting other monetary awards to him," Nugroho remarked.

Asked about students who excel in the field of sports but are often unable to study in college, Nugroho admitted that it is part of the homework that he has to finish while becoming the rector.

To fix it, his side has formed the Head of the Student Bureau to oversee the student achievement.

"That is indeed our weakness. So we will learn how to facilitate students so that academic and non-academic achievements are more balanced," he remarked.

Nugroho revealed that Untag was still ranked 81 because it was oversized in the field of student affairs and so he would focus more on fixing it.

In the meantime, Rusdana stated that he was very happy to receive appreciation from his campus in the form of free tuition fees until graduation.

"With the scholarship until graduating from college, I hope to be more focused on the field of Pecak Silat to make Indonesia proud. In addition, I do not have to worry that my study at the campus would be disrupted," he asserted.

After receiving bronze, Rusdana targets to compete in other international sports, namely the Sea Games and possibly the Olympics.

Reporting by Indra Setiawan/Willy Irawan
Editing by Otniel, Rahmad

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