The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at Gadjah Mada University was officially established on September 19, 1955, through the Minister of Education, Teaching, and Culture’s Decree dated September 15, 1955, with the reference number 53759/Kab. At the time of its establishment, this faculty was still a combined faculty with the Faculty of Engineering, known as the Union of Exact and Natural Sciences and the Faculty of Engineering. Starting from September 1, 1956, the Faculty of Exact Sciences and Natural Sciences (FMIPA) began to separate from the Faculty of Engineering.
At the time of its inauguration as a Union Faculty, FMIPA had only one department called the Department of Exact Sciences, which had existed since 1950 as a department within the Faculty of Engineering’s Civil Engineering Department. When FMIPA became an independent faculty on September 1, 1956, new departments were established. On September 1, 1960, the Department of Natural Sciences was added, followed by the Department of Chemistry. On December 28, 1982, the name FMIPA was changed to FMIPA (Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences), and it has since had three departments: Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics.
From its establishment as a combined faculty until it separated from the Faculty of Engineering, the faculty’s offices and academic activities were held in the old Faculty of Engineering building located at Jalan Jetisharjo No. 1, Yogyakarta. Basic physics laboratory activities and workshops were conducted in the old Faculty of Medicine complex in Mangkubumen. Starting in November 1960, FMIPA moved to its new building in Sekip Unit III. Lectures and faculty offices began to centralize in this building, although some activities were still held at Jetisharjo and the Mangkubumen complex. Additional buildings were gradually constructed, both north of Sekip Unit III and in the Sendowo area. In 1967, the Basic Physics Laboratory was relocated from Mangkubumen to a temporary building north of Sekip Unit III. In 1970, this laboratory was moved again and, together with the Electronics Laboratory, was placed in semi-permanent buildings in Sendowo, south of the Faculty of Biology. The former Basic Physics Laboratory building was then used for Analytical Chemistry Laboratories.
Until 1986, the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences had a physical infrastructure with an area of 13,925 m2 and a library containing 10,529 books with 4,297 titles. In 1987, with the support of World Bank Project IX, the library resources were increased to 13,929 books with 5,954 titles, and the physical infrastructure was expanded by adding 1,369 m2 of faculty office space and a 3,764 m2 chemistry laboratory building, bringing the total area to 19,058 m2.
With the construction of the faculty administration building and the chemistry laboratory building in Sekip Utara by World Bank Project IX, the Faculty and the Departments of Physics and Chemistry began occupying the new buildings in February 1989. In February 1994, a fire incident occurred in the Sekip Unit III building. One-third of the building, approximately 1,200 m2, suffered severe damage and could no longer be used. The Organic Chemistry Laboratory, the Computer Laboratory, and the Graduate Program Mathematics Library, along with all their equipment, laboratory materials, research materials, books, magazines, journals, and more, were lost in the fire.
In the academic year 1995/1996, a new building for the Department of Physics was completed, although it was only part of the original plan. Construction of new buildings for the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Chemistry also began. By the start of the 1996 academic year, most of these new buildings had been completed, and almost all administrative and academic activities were located in Sekip Utara.
At the beginning of the 2003 academic year, a three-story building with an area of 1,506.90 m2 was completed, bringing the total building area to 22,552 m2. This new building was used for lectures and the Student Internet Center.
From its establishment until 1980, the faculty offered three types of study programs, each with its own curriculum. These were the Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics study programs, each offered by the Departments of Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics, respectively.
In the academic year 1985/1986, a special program in D3 Mathematics and Natural Sciences Education was introduced to provide teaching qualifications at the secondary and high school levels in Mathematics and Natural Sciences. According to the Directorate of Academic Facilities’s Decree No. 695/D2/1991, starting from the 1991/1992 academic year, the faculty no longer admitted new students to this special program. In the academic year 1994/1995, the D-3 Biology and Natural Sciences Education programs were no longer offered.
Starting from the 1987/1988 academic year, the Department of Mathematics introduced two new study programs: Statistics and Computer Science. Similarly, the Department of Physics introduced two new study programs: Geophysics and Electronics and Instrumentation.
The Master of Science (S2) program initially covered the fields of Physics and Chemistry. However, starting from the 1992/1993 academic year, it included Mathematics as well. Within the field of Physics, Geophysics was offered as a special interest area. For the field of Mathematics, a special interest area in computer science was introduced on April 11, 1992. In the 1999 academic year, the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences also introduced a Master of Computer Science program with Decree No. 259/DIKTI/KEP/1999, dated May 27, 1999.
Several buildings in the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at UGM were affected by the earthquake that struck the Yogyakarta region on May 27, 2006. The most severe damage occurred in the west wing of the Physics building in Sekip Utara, while other buildings experienced minor to moderate damage. All damaged areas were repaired and restored, and by the start of the 2006/2007 academic year, they were back in use.
In 2010, the proposal to establish the Department of Computer Science and Electronics (DIKE), which had been submitted by the faculty since 2006, was finally approved by UGM. Within the organizational structure, DIKE oversees two study programs: Electronics and Instrumentation, which moved from the Department of Physics, and Computer Science, which moved from the Department of Mathematics.
Based on the UGM Rector’s Decree No. 1754/UN1.P/SK/HUKOR/2018 regarding the Establishment of the Actuarial Science Program at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, the Department of Mathematics introduced the Actuarial Science Program. Therefore, the Department of Mathematics now offers three undergraduate study programs: Mathematics, Statistics, and Actuarial Science.
