Department of Geodetic Engineering (DTGD), Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Gadjah Mada is one of the eight departments within the Faculty of Engineering UGM. At the beginning of its establishment, in August 1959, DTGD was still a joint study program with the Geological Engineering study program called Geodesy and Geology Engineering Section. In 1962, based on Law No. 22 of 1961, the Geodesy and Geology Engineering Section was split into two sections, namely the Geodesy Engineering Section and the Geology Engineering Section, each of which stood alone.

In 1962/1963 the Geodesy Section did not accept students. The Geodesy Section of the Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Gadjah Mada was temporarily “closed”. With the help of UCLA, in 1963 three staff members from the Geodesy Section, namely Prijono, B. Sc, Budihardjo, B.Sc., and Djoko Walijatun, B.Sc., were sent for further study at OHIO State University (OSU). The three of them, along with Rachmad PH., B.Sc., then became permanent lecturers in the Geodesy Section. With the return of the three people from OHIO in 1966, the Geodesy Section was reopened in 1968, with the Head of Section Djoko Walidjatun, M.Sc. and Secretary of Section Budiharjo, M.Sc. Students were able to continue their doctoral studies. Due to the suspension of lectures from 1963 to 1968, the Geodesy Section of the Faculty of Engineering, Gadjah Mada University, which opened in 1959, was only able to graduate its first graduate in 1969, Ir. Hasyimi Masyidin (aim.) who had served as Secretary of the Geodesy Section for three consecutive periods (1970-1976). After a long period of not sending lecturers abroad for further studies, in 1972 Ir. Soeprapto with MOMBUSHO (Japan) funding got the opportunity to study at Kyoto University as a research student. The second chapter of the Geodesy Section, which opened in 1968, did not seem to be able to overcome the various obstacles that existed. The shortage of lecturers and learning facilities remains a major obstacle.