Implementation of the Smart Indonesia Card Scholarship (KIP) Acceptance Using the K-NN 
Method (Case Study: Politeknik Siber Cerdika Internasional) 
Jurnal Indonesia Sosial Teknologi, Vol. 5, No. 8, August 2024                                            3223 
Community Economic Rural Empowerment study programs.  SCI Polytechnic carries the 
tagline Skillfull College which ensures that each graduate has the best skills in their study 
program. All Study Programs have been accredited by LAMEMBA, LAM TEKNIK, and 
BAN-PT in 2023. 
Law Number 12 of 2012 concerning Higher Education has given a mandate to the 
government  to  realize  affordability  and  equitable  distribution  in  obtaining  access  to 
quality higher education that is relevant to the interests of the community for progress, 
independence, and welfare. The government is obliged to increase access and learning 
opportunities and prepare intelligent and competitive Indonesian people. (Law (UU) No. 
12  of  2012  concerning  Higher Education,  2012).  One  of  the  government's  efforts  to 
increase access to learning for the community is through the provision of scholarships. 
The  Smart  Indonesia  Card  Program  (KIP)  is  an  initiative  of  the  Indonesian 
government  that  aims  to  ensure  that  all  Indonesian  children have  access  to  a  proper 
education. (Amadi et al., 2023). Through this program, students from underprivileged 
families are assisted in the form of scholarships that cover tuition fees and other needs. 
The implementation  of  this  program  is  expected to  help reduce the  dropout rate and 
improve  the  quality  of  human  resources  in  Indonesia.  (Zainal,  Joesyiana,  Zainal, 
Wahyuni, & Adriyani, 2023). 
However, as the number of KIP scholarship recipients increases every year, an 
accurate and fair recipient selection process is a challenge in itself. (NEGARA, n.d.). In 
practice, several  obstacles  are  often  faced,  such  as  invalid  recipient  data,  a  selection 
process  that  takes  a  long  time,  and  the  potential  for  human  error  in  determining 
scholarship recipients. Therefore, a system is needed that can help the selection process 
of scholarship recipients efficiently and on target. 
Cerdika  International  Cyber  Polytechnic  as  one  of  the  educational  institutions 
participating in the KIP program, also experienced challenges in the selection process of 
scholarship  recipients.  This  institution  needs  a  system  that  can  process  scholarship 
applicant  data  quickly  and  accurately  so  that  it  can  select  prospective  scholarship 
recipients who are truly entitled more efficiently. (Maryaningsih, Siswanto, & Mesterjon, 
2013). 
In this context, the K-Nearest Neighbor (K-NN) method can be applied as a solution 
to  solve  the  problem.  K-NN  is  one  of  the  methods  in  machine  learning  used  for 
classification and regression (Bugis, Cakra, Patombongi, & Suarna, 2024). This method 
works by comparing new data with existing data and determining the class of the new 
data based on proximity (similarity) with several nearby data. 
By applying the K-NN method in the selection of KIP scholarship recipients at the 
Cerdika International Cyber Polytechnic, it is hoped that the selection process can be 
faster,  more  efficient,  and  more  accurate.  This  system  can  help  reduce  errors  in 
determining scholarship recipients and ensure that scholarships are awarded to those who 
are truly in need and meet the criteria. 
This  study  will  examine  how  the  implementation  of  the  K-NN  method  can  be 
applied in the selection process of KIP scholarship recipients at the Cerdika International