ITB

Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) was founded on March 2, 1959. The present ITB main campus is on the site of earlier engineering school in Indonesia. Despite the varying characteristics and missions, these institutions of higher education strongly influence further developments leading to the establishment of ITB. In 1920, Technische Hogeschool (TH) Bandoeng was established. The Mechanical Engineering Department as part of TH was established on August 1, 1941. Not long after the declaration of independence of the Republic of Indonesia in 1945, the campus became the residence of the Engineering School (including a Fine Arts Department) of Universitas Indonesia, which later transformed its Engineering and Math & Natural Sciences Schools into Institut Teknologi Bandung.

Throughout the years, the Mechanical Engineering Department evolved into its present form through several distinct periods. During 1947 – 1955 with the support from DAAD, the Dutch professors were replaced by German professors, followed by American professors in 1956 with the support of USAID. First Indonesian nationals to teach at the Mechanical Engineering Department were 5 graduates of TH Delft, the Netherlands. In 1957, first graduates of Mechanical Engineering program completed their studies. Later, the Department recruited several of its own graduates in 1959, a practice that went on until the late 90s. The USAID technical assistance in 1956 – 1965, in addition to providing professor, also provided opportunities for young staffs to pursue advanced degrees in the U.S. The support brought the shift of educational system of ITB from Continental to Anglo-Saxon. During the period of 1956 – 1965, the Department was run by young Indonesian staffs along with German and American Professors. But, not until 1961, the Head of Department was an Indonesian. After 1966 the Department was fully operated by Indonesian staffs.

The year 1975 also marked significant growth of the Department when 12 staffs with advanced degrees, including 3 Professors, were on hand to run the academic program. Further staff development were realized through collaborative activities with higher education institutions in developed countries, such as ITB – KUL (Belgium) in 1972 – 1984, ITB – NUFFIC (the Netherlands) in 1978 – 1983, ITB – University of Montpellier (France) in 1974 – 1985. Staff development program also received a large boost during 1985 – 1995 World Bank project for Inter-University Centers and New-S1 program. The project sent around 20 young staffs to internationally renowned Universities in the US, UK, France, the Netherlands, and Japan. Most of them returned with Ph.D. degrees. At present, there are currently 52 academic staffs with student enrollment of 746 undergraduate (Sarjana), 67 Master and 16 Doctoral students.

Until December 2005, Mechanical Engineering is one of the Departments within Faculty of Industrial Technology (FTI). The reorganization of ITB, shifted the role and function of resource and programs management from Department to Faculty in January 2006. Hence, Mechanical Engineering became one of the study programs within FTI. Starting January 2008, to enhance agility and ability to swiftly respond to challenges facing the country, the Faculty of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering was formed. The new Faculty offers undergraduate and graduate programs in Mechanical, Aerospace and Materials Engineering.

www.mesin.itb.ac.id