According to the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, the government and society must educate the nation. The better community participation in developing the quality of human resources, the closer the distance traveled by the Indonesian nation in achieving its national goals under the protection and pleasure of Allah SWT.
Persyarikatan Muhammadiyah as a Tajdid movement (purification, renewal, reform and modernization) was founded on 8 Dzulhijjah 1330 Hijriyah / 18 November 1912 Miladiyah. Muhammadiyah is a struggle to uphold Islam and create a truly Islamic society through business charities, including education. Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara (UMSU) is one of the educational institutions established and organized by Muhammadiyah as a sub-system in the national education system, ranging from preschool education to higher education spread throughout Indonesia.
UMSU is a charitable business that operates under the Muhammadiyah organization. It is rooted in Islamic principles based on the Qur’an and Sunnah. UMSU was on the initiative of several prominent Muhammadiyah scholars, including H. M. Bustami Ibrahim, D. Diyar Karim, Rustam Thayib, M. Nur Haitami, Kadiruddin Pasaribu, Dr. Darwis Datuk Batu Besar, H. Syaiful U.A, Abdul Mu’thi, and Baharuddin Latif.
At first, UMSU started from the Faculty of Muhammadiyah Islamic Law and Philosophy Faculty (FAFHIM), which subsequently became the Muhammadiyah Higher Education (PTM) of North Sumatra in 1968, encouraging three faculties. This institution has four faculties: the Faculty of Education (FIP), the Faculty of Religious Sciences, the Department of Da’wah (FIAD), and the Faculty of Sharia.
UMSU was inaugurated with the Charter of Establishment by the Central Leadership of the Muhammadiyah Education and Teaching Council Number 2661/0/07/1974, dated 28 May 1974. The Faculty of Education (FIP) UMSU association was established with the support of the FIP at the Universitas Muhammadiyah Jakarta (UMJ). In 1974, it was independent, while the Faculty of Religious Sciences, Department of Da’wah (FIAD) which branched out to the Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera Barat, was independent and changed its name to the Faculty of Ushuluddin. Thank Kopertis Region I, on behalf of the Minister of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia, and Kopertais Region IX, on behalf of the Minister of Religion of the Republic of Indonesia, for initiating other faculties in UMSU.
Currently, UMSU has ten faculties, namely the Faculty of Islam Religion, the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, the Faculty of Social Sciences and Politics, the Faculty of Agriculture, the Faculty of Economy and Bussiness, the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Computer and Information systems, Magister and Doctoral Program.
UMSU also fosters several Muhammadiyah high schools, such as: Universitas Muhammadiyah Tapanuli Selatan (UMTS) in Padangsidimpuan, Muhammadiyah Asahan College of Economics in Kisaran and Tarbiyah College in Sibolga.
UMSU’s first campus is on Jalan Gedung Arca, which the Faculty of Medicine currently uses. Along with the growth in the number of students, UMSU built a new campus on Jalan Mukhtar Basri, now the main building. During the leadership of Prof. Dr. Agussani, M.AP, UMSU built the Postgraduate building on Jalan Denai to adjust undergraduate graduates to the increasing public interest in pursuing a Master’s education.
UMSU was initially led by Bustami Ibrahim and has since been led by Latief Rousydiy, Dalmy Iskandar, Chairman Pasaribu, Bahdin Nur Tanjung, Dalail Ahmad, and currently Prof. Dr. Agussani, M.AP.
During Prof. Dr. Agussani M.AP leadership, UMSU experienced a transformation by improving the governance of academic and teaching administration services. The UMSU Information System was developed with the Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta and allowed the involvement of parents to play an active role in the continuity of education. In the development of UMSU, a postgraduate building was built on Jalan Denai.
Along with UMSU’s transformation, the Muhammadiyah Central Leadership recommended establishing the Astronomy Observatory (OIF). OIF is supported by advanced equipment and will be a reference in determining prayer times, Qibla direction, and seeing the phenomenon of celestial bodies. As a result, OIF UMSU has succeeded in attracting the attention of people who want to know more about cosmic phenomena. Prof. Dr. Agussani, M.AP, plans to build an integrated campus following UMSU’s milestone of becoming a World Class University in 2033. Therefore, UMSU has established an International Affairs Office to build networks with university partners abroad to achieve this.
In 2019, UMSU got an A accreditation for higher education from the National Accreditation Board (BAN-PT). In addition, UMSU is the only private university in Sumatera with an A Accreditation and the second accreditation rating in Indonesia outside Java. The Rector of UMSU, Prof. Dr. Agussani, M.AP, said that the achievement of A accreditation for universities that UMSU had achieved was due to the hard work of the entire academic community.
