The effort to establish the Faculty of Letters and Culture at Diponegoro University began with the formation of the Committee for the Establishment of the Faculty of Letters and Culture at Diponegoro University based on the Decree of the Chancellor of UNDIP No. 626/Sp/Adm/BUP/1965 dated January 25, 1965. The composition of the committee is as follows:
Soenario, S.H., general chairman and member;
Rais, chairman and member;
Prof. A. Sigit, member;
Soemadi Soemowidagdo, member;
S. Poerwadarminta, member;
Slamet Rahardjo, M.A., member;
Soerono Tjitrosantjoko, member;
Tan Wei Lie, member;
Marsono, member;
Fadjar, member.
The basic ideas for the establishment of the faculty, as reflected in the preamble to the Chancellor’s Decree, include: Central Java is an area rich in Indonesian historical, cultural and literary sources; so that history, culture, and literature can be studied and developed, a faculty called the Faculty of Letters and Culture at Diponegoro University should be established.
Thanks to the hard work of the committee, finally the idea of establishing the Faculty of Letters and Culture at Diponegoro University was realized on September 1, 1965, with the Decree of the Minister of PTIP. No. 173/1965, dated August 21, 1965, and inaugurated by the Minister of PTIP dr. Syarif Thayeb on September 12, 1965. On that occasion, the first deans were also inaugurated, namely: Prof. Soenario, S.H.
The establishment of the faculty is in accordance with the considerations, namely educating prospective undergraduates, especially in the field of Indonesian culture; so the only department that was opened at that time was the Department of Indonesia. The graduates produced are expected to be able to research and broaden their knowledge of Indonesian culture, so as to be able to introduce them to the international world.
In line with the demands of the times, in 1967 a new department was opened, namely: the Anglo Saxon Department. Considering the Indonesian basis is the main goal, the separation of majors is only carried out in the third year. Since 1968 the policy has been reviewed. However, it was not until the meeting on January 31, 1970, that the Faculty Senate decided that the selection of majors could be made in the second year. In addition, the Faculty Senate also accepted the proposal of W.J.S. Poerwadarminta regarding the Department of Indonesiology and Anglo Saxons in 1973, and the doctoral level was opened; while the Department of History, due to limited teachers, has only been opened up to the baccalaureate level. Because many students did not continue their studies, it was only in 1974 that the Faculty of Literature and Culture of Diponegoro University was able to graduate the first two graduates from the Department of Indonesiology and Anglo Saxon.
The opening of the Department of History gives more opportunities to study all aspects of Indonesianness, so that a more adequate vehicle is finally available to realize the mission of the faculty. However, further developments are in line with the direction of the Literature and Philosophy Sub- consortium so that the Faculty of Letters in Indonesia is towards uniformity, the intention to establish a Faculty of Letters with its own style as aspired by its founder was not fully realized. Like other Faculty of Letters in Indonesia, the Department of Indonesiology changed to the Department of Indonesian Literature, the Anglo Saxon Department became the Department of English Letters, and the Department of History became the Department of History.
The Faculty of Letters at Diponegoro University in 1976 began to carry out education with a credit system. Then starting in 1978, a four-year undergraduate education program was implemented with a total of 140 credit units of semester credits (SKS). When this program has only been running for one year, then the Minister of Education and Culture Decree No. 0124/U/1979 dated May 8, 1979 regarding the level of the Higher Education Program. The decree stated that the study load for the Undergraduate Program (S1) is between 144 – 160 semester credit units (SKS), with a study period of four to seven years.
Starting in 1979/1980 the applicable curriculum was based on the minimum curriculum of the Consortium for Literature and Philosophy, and the curriculum and syllabus for each course were compiled. Meanwhile, based on the Decree of the Minister of Education and Culture No. 0551/10/1983 dated December 8, 1983, the name of the Faculty of Cultural Literature was changed to the Faculty of Letters.
Further developments, the curriculum that applies to students batch 1984/1985 is the Core Curriculum set by the Directorate General of Higher Education. In accordance with these references and based on the Decree of the Chancellor of the University of Diponegoro No. 1410/SK/PT09/1984 dated July 23, 1984, the curriculum that applies at the Faculty of Letters, Diponegoro University is the Core Curriculum plus Specialty Courses (MKS) and Elective Courses (MKP). Class students before 2000 apply the curriculum based on the Decree of the Chancellor of the University of Diponegoro No. 324/BK/Prog/1996 dated October 3, 1996, in accordance with the Decree of the Minister of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia No. 0314/U/1994 t