PBNU Partners with UI as Gus Yahya Prepares Major Leap in NU Campus Education and Research
The Central Board of Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU) and Universitas Indonesia (UI) have officially signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen cooperation in education, research, and community social services. The signing took place at the PBNU Building, Jalan Kramat Raya 164, Jakarta, on Wednesday (13/5/2026).
PBNU General Chairman, KH Yahya Cholil Staquf or Gus Yahya, described the cooperation as a strategic step to expand collaboration between PBNU and UI across various sectors.
“Today, we will officially sign the MoU between PBNU and Universitas Indonesia, which will cover a broad scope of cooperation, from academic fields to various community services that have been NU’s domain,” said Gus Yahya.
According to him, this cooperation is also part of developing NU’s transformation framework moving forward. Gus Yahya assessed that NU can only grow larger by strengthening two main sectors, namely social services and economic strengthening through corporatisation.
“These two areas are wide open. NU will greatly benefit from UI’s willingness to support NU’s agenda,” he stated.
He hopes that the synergy between PBNU and UI can bring broad benefits, not only to both institutions but also to society and the nation.
“May this cooperation between the two parties truly yield great benefits and advantages, not only for both sides but for the community, the nation, and the state, and be blessed by Allah SWT,” he said.
Meanwhile, UI Rector Heri Hermansyah stated that the cooperation serves as a momentum to improve the quality of campuses within PBNU’s environment so they can compete at national and international levels.
“Bringing along the universities in PBNU’s environment so they can advance together,” said Heri.
He explained that UI has received much support from international collaborations with various universities worldwide. One example is the recognition of two years of UI study by the University of Melbourne.
According to Heri, a similar cooperation model can be applied to NU higher education institutions through double degree programmes between NU campuses and UI.
“This can be copied with universities in PBNU’s environment. Even if they are not on the ranking radar,” he said.
Heri added that UI is also opening opportunities for recruitment programmes for selected high school year 3 students and santri to study in UI’s flagship programmes.
“Currently, UI has 38 international-standard study programmes. We can start with 10 programmes,” he said.
As an initial step, UI and PBNU will conduct curriculum mapping for study programmes at NU campuses to align them with UI standards.
“After the curriculum mapping is complete, we can create UNU-UI double degree programmes with influential scholarships,” he explained.