Prior to the independence of Indonesia, the Dutch East Indies had established STOVIA, initially a medical school and later expanding into multiple fields upon independence and its renaming to Universitas Indonesia.

[3][4] Latief Hendraningrat, former head of the Indonesian Army's Commanders and Staff School and later a brigadier general, was appointed as the first rector and served for just a year.

[5] In 1968, the institute established the Labschool High School (SMA Labschool) to act as a school laboratorium where teachers in training could practice their teaching and educational research could be conducted.

[6] The institute was converted into a university on 4 August 1999, and it had since expanded into teaching non-education subjects.

[7] In 2017 the university was put under investigation for high levels of plagiarism, resulting in the removal of its previous rector by the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education (Kemenristekdikti).