Introduction
In this post, I would like to share the reference letter that I obtained from Prof Hyerim Bae of Pusan National University. This reference letter is real and I used it to win GOI IES in 2018. However, I made a small correction on the grammar to make it better English. The referee was my supervisor during my master time in Korea. I have been working with him for many years ever since. You can audit from his reference letter below (see next section).
Also Read: Winning Example (1) – Government of Ireland Scholarship (GOI-IES) Personal Statements
Also Read: Winning Example (2) – Government of Ireland Scholarship (GOI-IES) Personal Statements
You can go there to read my experience winning the scholarship
Reference Letter – Former Supervisor
To whom it may concern,
My name is Hyerim Bae; I am a full professor in Industrial Engineering and a former supervisor of Arif Wibisono while he was taking his degree in Logistics Information Technology (2009-2011). I am writing this email to provide a recommendation for him to pursue his/her PhD study. Arif came to my lab as a Korean Government Scholarship (KGSP) Student after finishing his Korean language course at Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea. Arif is a diligent worker and smart student. He has involved in various projects in our lab, especially in the implementation of business process management in port logistics. He was in charge of developing a process modeller at that time. To this point, Arif has a strong capability of computer programming, more specifically in desktop and database programming. Moreover, he has good English writing and presentation skills. During his master study, he published two international conferences and one international journal. All, I took a role as a supervisor. Unlike other students in my lab, Arif and I keep collaborating until now. We published two articles in reputable international conferences (2014, 2015) and one SCIE journal (December 2016). The prominent feature of Arif is his passion for strengthening collaboration. Arif is a lecturer in Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), the second-largest Engineering university in Indonesia. His position makes Arif one of the primary sources of our lab to recruit outstanding students. When he was a student, we suggested three Indonesians pursue their master degree at our lab (two master and one PhD students). One master student got the highest GPA in Engineering school. Another (PhD student) has been our prominent project leader and high-quality paper producer. Periodically, I go to Indonesia to interview to recruit more potential students (2011, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018). Here, Arif mostly arranged national-level open interviews, not limited to his university. He has relentlessly promoted interview via social media to attract the best students. The last time I visited Indonesia was in February 2018, when I have successfully recruited two best students. Along with me, some professors also came to recruit, such as Prof Howon Kim (2017), Prof Ryu Kwang Ryel (2011, 2018), Prof Sanghwa Chung (2018) and Prof Hong Bong Hee (2011). All of them are satisfied with the recruitment process and the recruited students. Other to recruitments, Arif has shown his capability in strengthening faculty-level research collaboration. PNU and ITS have done a two-day joint workshop in big data/IoT/business process management in some recent years (2011, 2017, 2018). This year (2018), one of the PNU research centres: Grand ICT R&D centre, joints the workshop. There are four PNU professors involved in this workshop. On the other occasion, Arif also managed an AIS-Indonesia Chapter Information Systems Conference (named ISICO), where I took a role as a keynote speaker (2015). It was a good chance for me to promote the BPM discipline in Indonesia. All the endeavours mentioned above have given Arif an excellent opportunity. It was 2015 when Arif visited me in Korea when he was selected as the KGSP Alumni Program fellow. This program is arranged by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology to re-invite KGSP alumni worldwide. Especially those that have shown significant contributions to enhance the relationships between Korea and their home countries. In the end, I strongly suggest Arif to you. He has the best combination of critical thinking, communication, and leadership skills. He is the best asset for any institution where he belongs to. His devotion to the institution improvement is evident and apparent. If Arif has a chance to get a scholarship on your side, you have to consider him strongly. Here, I believe he can pursue his PhD degree successfully and contribute positively to your institution goals. It is just like he did to PNU and ITS. Lastly, if you have any questions regarding this recommendation, please feel free to contact me. Sincerely yours,
Hyerim Bae, PhD Full Professor |
Also Read: Winning Example (3) – Government of Ireland Scholarship (GOI-IES) Personal Statements
Conclusion
Before I conclude this section, I would suggest that you need to take care of the reference well. You cannot ask the referee to provide a reference letter when the deadline is too short. So, you need to have enough time span to do so. Moreover, please assure that you do not copy above text as it is. You need to re-write in accordance to your current situations and achievements.


Can you please help me to complete the application. I would be grateful if you can take out some time and help me.
Thanks in advance!
Hey Arif, I need your help for goi-ies scholarship application. I would be forever grateful if you can help me out. Thanks in advance.