The Story of a Lecturer at UM Surabaya, a Vegetable Seller's Son who Wins an Overseas Scholarship

Jepri Ali Saipul is a Lecturer in English Language Education at the Muhammadiyah University of Surabaya (UM Surabaya) who has just completed his doctoral degree from the College of Social Sciences, National Sun Yat-Sen University Taiwan. Jepri took the International Graduate Program of Education and Human Development (IGPEHD) Study Program. In 2020 Jepri managed to get a full scholarship from the Taiwan Ministry of Education to study for 4 years. But amazingly, Jepri managed to graduate faster, namely 3 years with a perfect GPA of 4.0.

Apparently, behind the success achieved today, Jepri has a life journey that is not easy. According to him, there were many difficult times that he went through. Jepri admits that since he was little his mother has only been a vegetable vendor with an income of 20,000-30,000, which is sometimes not enough to meet his daily needs. While his father worked as a maid in a shop in Surabaya. Jepri admitted that when he was still in elementary school he was not the winner in the class. However, he realized that he had a high curiosity to keep learning and learning new things.

Jepri admitted that when he was in junior high school (SMP), he just discovered a new learning pattern, so since then he has always been the best in his class and ranked 1st.

"The pattern of learning at that time was that after I finished reading, I tried to write down the questions and I answered them directly, and I brought them with me during the activity so I don't forget them easily. And I applied that to high school so that I consistently won the class," said Jepri Monday 6/26/23)

Jepri admitted that when he attended SMK PGRI 1 Jombang, Jepri never paid, because he received a BOS scholarship and achievements from the school. It was at the time of SMK that his ideals were formed. Jepri wants to be an English educator.

First Bachelor in Family

The man who was born in Nglongko Hamlet, Kebontemu Village, Peterongan, Jombang, admitted that he was the first scholar in his family. His mother and father only graduated from elementary school and his two older siblings went to high school. Jepri admitted that when he was about to enter Higher Education the road was not easy right away. As someone who can't afford it and wants to go to college, he only has recklessness. In Surabaya, Jepri is entrusted to Pakdhe or who is his mother's brother. Jepri's desire to go from school to university made his parents have to try harder.

"At that time I was rejected twice by state campuses, never gave up, finally I enrolled in English Education at UM Surabaya and was accepted. In the morning I study until noon, continue with the organization. Afternoon to night I taught lessons at LBB,” he recalled.

From the tutoring income he used to meet the needs in Surabaya. While his father's salary is used to pay for college. Not just an ordinary student. While studying at UM Surabaya in 2014, Jepri was selected as one of 100 ASEAN youths who took part in the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) workshop in Kuala Lumpur, Malasya, which was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under President Barack Obama's initiative.

Not only that, in 2013 he was also selected as one of the 100 ASEAN Youth Eco Leaders organized by the National University of Malaysia which was held for five weeks.

Studying Masters with the LPDP Scholarship

When he graduated from UM Surabaya, Jepri immediately worked at UM Surabaya in the International Affairs Office, this was due to his proficiency in English so he was immediately asked to work on campus. Not stopping to continue studying, in 2016 Jepri won a scholarship from the LPDP at Yogyakarta State University. Jepri majored in Applied Linguistics, apart from graduating on time, Jepri also had a cum laude GPA of 3.95.

After graduating from his master's degree, in 2018 Jepri returned to campus and became a lecturer at UM Surabaya. Then in 2020 Jepri returned to continue his doctoral studies. Apparently before he chose Taiwan's National Sun Yat-Sen University, Jepri had also been accepted at several overseas campuses including: (1) University of Sydney Australia, (2) University of New South Wales, Australia, (3) University of Leeds, United Kingdom, (4) National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan (5) National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan.

"I chose National Sun Yat-sen University Taiwan because the scholarship was given in full," he said.

As a doctoral student who graduated faster, Jepri has also published 5 Scopus Q1 and SSCI indexed journal articles, workshops, summer courses, international conferences in various countries such as at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, UK.

“Be yourself, be progressive. Be yourself, namely a person who has principles and wants to continue to learn and develop, "he concluded.