Short History Of IAIN/UIN Jakarta

UIN Jakarta, formerly IAIN, was founded in 1960 and it originated from ADIA (Akademi Dinas llmu Agama = State Academy for Religious Studies). ADIA was an academy which specialized itself in the training of religious teachers from the Department of Religious Affairs. Because there was greater need for bigger Islamic higher learning facilities, Muslim leaders urged that an Islamic institute or university be established. In response to this demand, Sukarno, who was the president of the Republic of Indonesia then, issued the presidential decree No. O11 of 1960. This decree was the basis for the establishment of IAIN (Institut Agama Islam Negeri = State Institute for Islamic studies) in Yogyakarta. ADIA was then developed into two faculties of IAIN, i.e. Faculty of Tarbiyah (Islamic Education) and Faculty of Adab (Arabic Literature). Although the two faculties were in Jakarta, the Central Office was still in Yogyakarta.

The interest of students in studying at IAIN at that time was so great that the Religious Affairs Department then decided to establish two centers for Islamic studies : IAIN in Yogyakarta (called IAIN ’Sunan Kalijaga') and the other was IAIN in Jakarta (called IAIN 'Syarif Hidayatullah') which was developed from the two existing faculties. The religious Affairs Department also decided that IAIN Jakarta was to coordinate all the faculties existing in Jakarta, West Java, and Sumatera.

At the beginning of 1990s many religious scholars felt that ‘IAIN’ as an institute, was not big enough to accommodate the much wider perspectives of Islamic sciences. A serious effort to develop IAIN into an Islamic university started in 1994. In 2002, after they had struggled for almost ten years, lAlN UIN (Universitas lslam Negeri = State 1 decree No. 31 of 2002, dated May 20, 2002.

At present, UIN Jakarta has ten Faculties : Tarbiyah and Teacher Training, Adab and Humanities, Usuhuluddin and Phisophy, Syariah and Law, Dakwah and Communication, Economics and Social, Sciences, Psychology, Science and Technology, Dirasah Islamiyah, and Medicine and Health Sciences. Student can chosse any faculty of their interest, but of course, they must first pass the entrace test.

Eache Faculty has several departements. Faculty of Tarbiyah, which is the oldest of the ten faculties is the most departements and students, so far. The tem faculties are develoloping and growing bigger. Indonesian muslims in particular, and Indonesian people in general certainly hope that UIN will grow not onlyin terms of the number of faculties and student it has, but also interms of the role it plays in the development of islamic sciences.

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