Malang – Universitas Negeri Malang (UM) has successfully achieved a remarkable feat by entering the national top five for funding in the Student Creativity Program (PKM) for 2026. This achievement was announced by the Director of Student Affairs and Alumni, Prof. Dr.Eng. Ir. Siti Sendari, S.T., M.T., during an interview with the UM Public Relations Team.
According to Siti Sendari, UM’s success in securing funding for 23 PKM 8-field proposals is a significant achievement amidst fierce national competition. This year, the quota for proposals for high-cluster universities drastically decreased to 190 from the previous 400 proposals in 2025.
“Alhamdulillah, UM’s funding for PKM 8-field in 2026 includes 23 proposals, an increase from 20 proposals in the previous year, thus fulfilling UM’s aspiration to rank among the top 5 nationally,” she stated.
She explained that this success is inseparable from the coaching strategy implemented since the previous leadership, including the ideation process for PKM through PIOS UM. This year, the PKM process began with ideation, followed by internal selection. Proposals that passed received intensive mentoring from the UM PKM Center.
“The PKM Center is highly focused on providing intensive mentoring for every proposal that passes the UM-level selection,” she told the Public Relations Team on Saturday (30/6).
This mentoring is conducted in stages, from the faculty level to the university level, with an emphasis on strengthening scientific ideas to ensure student proposals are more refined and competitive. UM also provides special coaching and training for students who wish to participate in PKM, both at the faculty and university levels.
Student enthusiasm for the PKM program is also considered very high. Each year, student proposals are first selected to 400 best proposals, then further filtered to 190 proposals for the eight PKM fields.
Nevertheless, this year’s process was not without challenges. Siti Sendari revealed that the proposal submission deadline, being close to a major holiday, posed a particular obstacle. However, student spirit remained high throughout the mentoring process.
“This year’s challenge was that the proposal deadline was very close to Eid al-Fitr, but the students remained highly enthusiastic in following the mentoring process, enabling them to overcome this challenge,” she explained.
This achievement is considered to have a significant impact on UM’s reputation and competitiveness at the national level. In 2025, UM ranked 12th nationally in PKM funding. This year, that position surged to the national top five.
“Alhamdulillah, the impact is very significant. In 2025, we reached the national top 12 for PKM funding; this year, we reached the national top 5,” she said.
She also emphasized that the role of supervising lecturers is crucial to student success. Lecturers help refine ideas, develop proposal content according to their respective scientific fields, and ultimately produce higher-quality proposals.
Moving forward, UM aims not only to increase the number of funded proposals but also to focus on preparing proposals to advance to the PKP2 and PIMNAS stages. Siti Sendari hopes that students whose proposals receive funding will implement their programs effectively and produce accountable outcomes.
“We hope that the students whose proposals receive funding can organize and collaboratively implement the funding and achieve maximum, accountable results. For those who did not pass, we encourage them to evaluate and prepare better proposals for next year,” she stated.
Reporter: Muhammad Salmanudin Hafizh Shobirin – UM Public Relations