The establishment of PPSI began with informal meetings held at Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in 2005. The initiator of the meeting was Drs. Adaby Darban, S.U. (late), who at that time served as Head of the UGM History Department. He wants history majors throughout Indonesia to communicate with each other, at least knowing each other’s thesis information compiled by students to avoid plagiarism. The department of history which then intensively worked on the idea was the Department of History UGM and the Department of History, Universitas Airlangga. On August 11, 2006, the Department of History UGM held a seminar on the nationalization of Dutch companies in Indonesia. One of the presenters was Thomas Lindblad from Leiden University, who at that time was conducting research on the theme. The seminar was also attended by several Heads and Secretaries of the History Department from several universities, including Diponegoro University, Jember University, Airlangga University, Yogyakarta State University, Semarang State University, Purwokerto Muhammadiyah University, as well as several other universities that have History Departments/Programs. After the seminar was over, it was continued with a workshop on the potential that the History Study Program had to develop.
At that time, it was initiated to hold regular meetings of the Management of History Study Programs throughout Indonesia, which took turns from one university to another. The agenda for the meeting is to discuss various historical developments, curriculum, research collaborations, seminars, and others. Even at that time the idea began to emerge to form an organization that accommodated History Study Programs throughout Indonesia without distinguishing between university backgrounds. It should be noted that the History Study Program in Indonesia is under the auspices of three universities, namely public universities, educational universities, and Islamic universities. The meeting which was held on August 11, 2006 resulted in an agreement that the agenda that had been prepared at that time would be discussed further at the 2007 meeting. At that time, the Airlangga University History Study Program submitted an agreement to host the 2007 meeting.
The 2007 History Study Program Management Meeting was held at the Faculty of Letters (not yet changed to the Faculty of Cultural Sciences) Airlangga University. The meeting which took place on 29-30 August 2007 was opened by the Rector of Universitas Airlangga, Prof. Dr. Fluent, Apt. One of the messages conveyed by him at that time was that History was a very important science because it involved national identity and was a unifying tool for the nation. If we want to become a great nation, then we must understand the development of the nation’s civilization from time to time, and that requires the strategic role of History. Present as the main speaker at that time were Prof. Dr. Bambang Purwanto, M.A. from the UGM History Study Program, Prof. Dr. Sugianto Padmo, M.A. from the UGM History Study Program, and Prof. Dr. Ketut Surajaya, M.A. from the UI History Department. One of the themes that was discussed quite intensively at that time was the formulation of competencies for graduates of the History Study Program, both pure history and historical education. The formulation of graduate competencies offered at that time were, for pure historical sciences, among others: having knowledge of Indonesian history in a global context; mastering the basics of historical science and able to conduct historical research supported by mastery of source languages that can be applied in various media; and able to solve contemporary problems with a historical perspective. The competency formulations for history education graduates include: having knowledge of Indonesian history in a global context; have the ability to do historical learning in an interesting way; able to instill historical values and appreciate historical values in life and learning.
At the meeting at Airlangga University, it was also agreed that the 2008 meeting would be held at Hasanuddin University, Makassar. The meeting in Makassar was successfully held on 11-12 December 2008 with the host of the Hasanuddin University History Study Program. There was no specific formulation that resulted from the meeting because the focus of the activities was more on historical seminars. At that time it was also agreed that the next meeting would be held at Lambung Mangkurat University, Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan in 2009. However, the meeting which was planned to be held in Banjarmasin could not be held due to technical problems.
The failure of the meeting in Banjarmasin has caused a long vacuum, for five years there has been no meeting of the History Study Program. It was only at the end of 2012 that plans began again to revive the annual agenda, which was led by the History Study Program, Universitas Airlangga and the UGM History Study Program. At an informal meeting it was agreed that the meeting would be held again in 2013, with the host of the UGM History Study Program. The 2013 meeting was held on 11-12 December. Present at that time the Director General of Culture, Prof. Dr. Kacung Marijan, M.A. The meeting was packaged in an Indonesian History Department Workshop with the theme “New Directions and Perspectives for Scientific Development and Indonesian History Learning in Higher Education.” The workshop which lasted for two days was attended by around 70 representatives from History Study Programs throughout Indonesia. Some of the things discussed included the development of historical science, institutional management, learning methods and technology, the job market for graduates, and the responsibility of the historian profession.
The Yogyakarta Meeting on 11-12 December 2013, resulted in a document containing the conclusions of the meeting, which was called the Yogyakarta Document. The document contains 12 problem points and recommendations that must be solved together. At the meeting it was also agreed that the next year’s meeting would be held in Surabaya with the host of the History Study Program, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Airlangga. The meeting in Surabaya was held on 19-20 November 2014 at the Novotel Hotel, attended by nearly a hundred delegates from various History Study Programs throughout Indonesia, including History, Historical Education, and Islamic Cultural History. This meeting became a historic meeting because it succeeded in declaring the establishment of the Association of Indonesian-wide History Study Programs, abbreviated as PPSI. Other organizational components were also successfully prepared, namely the Articles of Association and Bylaws (AD/ART), and appointed the Chair of PPSI, Dr. Linda Sunarti from the History Study Program, University of Indonesia.