Gadjah Mada University


Gadjah Mada University is a public research university located in Yogyakarta, Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Officially founded on 19 December 1949, Gadjah Mada University is one of the oldest and largest institutions of higher education in the country. It has been credited as one of the most prestigious universities in Indonesia, along with the Bandung Institute of Technology and the University of Indonesia.
When the university was established in the 1940s under Dutch rule, it was the first medicine faculty freely open to native Indonesians, at a time when native education was often restricted.
Comprising 18 faculties and 27 research centers, UGM offers 68 undergraduate, 23 diploma, 104 master and specialist, and 43 doctorate study programs. The university has enrolled approximately 55,000 students, 1,187 foreign students, and has 2,500 faculty members. UGM maintains a campus of, with facilities that include a stadium and a fitness center.
The university is named after Gajah Mada, a 14th-century leader of the Majapahit Empire of Java, considered by some historians to be the nation's first unifier; the university's name still reflects the old Dutch-era spelling.
The seventh and current President of Indonesia, Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, earned his degree in forestry at UGM.

History

UGM was the first state university in Indonesia, established as Universiteit Negeri Gadjah Mada when Indonesia was still facing threats from the Netherlands, who wanted to regain control. At the time, the capital of Indonesia had moved from Jakarta to Yogyakarta.
UGM was established through Government Regulation No. 23 of 1949, regarding the merger of colleges to form a university. Although the regulations were dated 16 December, UGM's inauguration took place on 19 December, intentionally chosen to coincide with the anniversary of the Dutch invasion of the city of Yogyakarta, exactly one year prior on 19 December 1948. The intentional date was meant to show that one year after the Netherlands had invaded the city, the government would establish a nationwide university there.
When it was founded, UGM had six faculties: Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmacy; Law, Social and Political Sciences; Engineering; Letters, Pedagogy and Philosophy; Agriculture; and Veterinary Medicine.
From 1952 until 1972, the Faculty of Law, Social and Political Sciences was split into two faculties: the Surabaya branch of the Faculty of Law, Social, and Political Sciences; and the Faculty of Education and Teacher Training, which was integrated into IKIP Yogyakarta.
During its initial years of Dutch resistance, the university taught literature and law in the buildings and other facilities belonging to the palace of Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX, who volunteered his palace for the university's use. UGM gradually established a campus of its own in Bulaksumur, on the northern side of Yogyakarta, and now occupies an area of three square kilometres.

Main buildings

The UGM main building is called the Balairung, in Sleman. Nearby is the Graha Sabha Pramana, a large building utilized for graduation ceremonies, with an adjoining square used for sport and recreation. There is also a university library and a sports center, consisting of a stadium, tennis court, and basketball field.

Faculties and schools

The UGM administration is divided into 18 faculties, offering study programs from the undergraduate to doctoral level. There is also a vocational school offering vocational study programmes.
In 1988, UGM opened a master's programme in management, to train students in business practices. The program is a collaboration with the University of Kentucky and Temple University. The Faculty of Economics and Business UGM is ranked among 5% of world best business schools after it received an international Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business accreditation.

Medical school

The Faculty of Medicine UGM is one of the oldest medical schools in Indonesia, having been established on 5 March 1946. It is ranked number 72 by the Times Higher Education Supplement 2006 for biomedicine.

International programs

In 2002, UGM began offering an English-language-based medicine programme for overseas and Indonesian students to study medicine with an international standard curriculum. The International Medicine Programme is over five years, with the first three and a half years being study and a further one and a half years of clinical rotations. The programme is designed around a problem based learning approach, making use of small study groups.

Computer Science International Undergraduate Programme

CSIUP began in the 2012 academic year. It offers undergraduate computer science classes in English. It teaches algorithm and software design, intelligent systems, programmable logic and embedded systems, and mobile computing. The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has been teaching Computer Science courses since 1987, 2000, and 2003, organized jointly by the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Physics, which has also offered courses in Electronics and Instrumentation since 1987. In 2010, the Department of Computer Science and Electronics was formed by merging Computer Science resources within the Department of Mathematics with the Electronics and Instrumentation group within the Department of Physics. Students of DCSE have won gold medals in robotics competitions both nationally and internationally.

Research centers

UGM has 23 university-level research and study centers:
UGM maintains the Integrated Research and Testing Laboratory, which is the university's central laboratory.

Achievements

In 2013, the chemistry undergraduate program received accreditation from the Royal Society of Chemistry in the United Kingdom, the largest European-based international organization devoted to the advancement of chemical science. The first such international accreditation received by the university, it is effective from 5 March 2013 until March 2018.

Rankings

The university was ranked 254th in the world by QS World University Rankings for 2021.

Student achievement

Student orientation

Every year UGM welcomes new students by holding a one-week student orientation session called PPSMB Palapa, which involves a short course introducing UGM's common knowledge, values, rules, and soft-skill education. On the last day of the program, there is a closing ceremony where students make a formation of a symbol or logo. In 2018, the students created a formation called Bersatu Nusantara Indonesia with the Indonesian national flag, to encourage a spirit of unity across differences in the country.

Community service

UGM organizes a community service called KKN-PPM, which is obligatory for undergraduate students. KKN-PPM is a research-based community service offered three times each academic year, in the middle of both the odd semester and even semester and between these two semesters. Not only local students joining the KKN, but also international academicians, including lecturers and students, are involved in KKN-PPM UGM. In 2011, 150 international students participated in KKN-PPM, coming from many countries, such as South Korea, Australia, France, the US and Norway.

Other activities

The Sports Activities Unit is coordinated by the Secretariat of Joint Sports, and the Arts Unit is coordinated by the Joint Secretariat of Arts.
Sports activities include swimming, diving, inkai karate, kenpō, the Indonesian martial art pencak silat, taekwondo, judo, hockey, soccer, softball, volleyball, basketball, athletics, equestrian, bridge, badminton, chess, and tennis.
Arts activities include Arts Gaya Yogyakarta, Art Style Surakarta, Balinese dance, creative dance, photography, Gamma Band, marching band, ‘’keroncong’’, student choir, theatre, and others arts.
Other activities include Publisher Student Press Agency, Mapagama, Student Health Unit, Scout, Satmenwa, Cooperative Students "Kopma UGM", and AIESEC.
Spirituality activities include the Unit of Islamic Spirituality, Unit of Catholic Spirituality, Christian Spirituality Unit, Hindu Spirituality Unit, Buddhism and Spiritual Unit.
Reasoning activities include the Interdisciplinary Unit of Scientific Reasoning, Gama Scholar Reasoning Unit, and English Debating Society.

Other facilities

is a mosque owned by UGM and situated within its campus. It was designed entirely by the students of UGM Architecture Engineering department. It holds maximum capacity of 10,000 pilgrims, making it one of the largest mosques in Southeast Asia.
Madya Stadium, the softball/baseball field, and the tennis courts are located in the valley of UGM. The stadium can be used for football, athletics, hockey, and other activities. These facilities are available to UGM students, staff and the public.
The Student Center Hall is used for sports activities such as basketball, volleyball, badminton, and martial arts, and for exhibitions and artistic performances.
The open field in the valley of UGM can be used for musical performances or other student activities that require a wide open space.

Yogyakarta Principles

The Yogyakarta Principles—a set of principles set forth at Geneva, Switzerland, which were intended to apply international human rights law guidelines in support of the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people—were developed at Gadjah Mada University.
However, the Yogyakarta communities, civil societies, and the Sultanate of Yogyakarta have not subscribed to these principles. The principles were deemed as being against the Constitution of Indonesia and Pancasila ideology by the regional House of Representatives, Islamic and religious groups, and civil prosecutors, who attacked LGBT people as being suspect in "promoting communism or westernization", although the Yogyakarta Principles merely address ending violence, abuse, and discrimination of LGBT people.

Notable alumni

University Rectors