With a legacy dating back to 1951, Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University (UIN Sunan Kalijaga) is undertaking an ambitious institutional transformation to strengthen its position within the global higher education landscape. Rather than preserving Islamic scholarship as a static tradition, the university is rearticulating it as a dynamic academic foundation—integrated with science, innovation, and sustainability.

Anchored in its integrative–interconnective academic philosophy, a commitment to innovation, and a culture of continuous improvement, the transformation spans all institutional pillars. Academic excellence, research capacity, student development, human resources, and governance reform are being advanced in parallel under the strategic vision encapsulated in the tagline Empowering Knowledge, Shaping the Future.

Research performance has emerged as a central driver of global reputation. According to the Ministry of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, UIN Sunan Kalijaga was the most productive Islamic higher education institution in international research publications in 2025, producing 236 Scopus-indexed articles in a single year. This performance is further reinforced by SciVal analysis, highlighting both productivity and global research impact.

The university has also strengthened its academic offerings through outcome-based curricula, pedagogical innovation, and accelerated national and international accreditation. Within this framework, the Tri Dharma of higher education—teaching, research, and community engagement—is positioned as an integrated knowledge-production system with tangible societal impact.

Internationalisation has been expanded through the launch of International Undergraduate Programs across 14 disciplines, recognition of prior learning at the master’s level, and double-degree programmes in interdisciplinary Islamic studies and global Muslim world studies. These efforts are complemented by the opening of new graduate and doctoral programmes and the strategic preparation for establishing a Faculty of Medicine.

Research ecosystem development has delivered measurable outcomes. With a Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) of 2.68—the highest among Indonesia’s State Islamic Universities—UIN Sunan Kalijaga’s publications are cited nearly three times above the global average. This impact is reinforced by a portfolio of internationally ranked journals, including Q1 and Q2 titles in Islamic studies, education, and law.

Institutional recognition in 2025 and early 2026—including top national research rankings, sustainability awards, QS Asia University Rankings inclusion, and leading Webometrics positions—underscores a transformation grounded in research excellence, academic quality, and sustained social contribution.