In Indonesia, State Islamic Institutes (
Institut Agama Islam Negeri, IAIN) trace their origins from Islamic boarding schools known as
pesantren. In 1961, the
Ministry of Religious Affairs founded branches of IAIN Sunan Kalijaga
Yogyakarta in the cities of
Surabaya and
Malang. The Malang branch acted as the faculty of
Tarbiyah (Islamic education). Later on, the three were merged into IAIN Sunan Ampel before the Malang branch separated in 1997, due to a presidential decree mandating the creation of separate Islamic institutes (referred to as
Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Negeri or STAIN) across the country. After its 1997 separation, the university was once more renamed to
Universitas Islam Indonesia Sudan (Indonesian-Sudanese Islamic University) by vice president
Hamzah Haz on 21 July 2002 as a result of a cooperation between Indonesia and
Sudan – marking its transition to university status. Two years later, following Presidential Decree No. 50/2004, released on 21 June 2004, the university was renamed to
Universitas Negeri Islam Malang (Islamic State University of Malang). The date was assumed by the university as its founding date. The name changes, from IAIN Malang to STAIN Malang to UIIS to UIN Malang, all occurred under a single rector and earned the institute a
national record for "Most University Name Changes". In 2009,
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono once more altered the university's name - this time to
Universitas Islam Negeri Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang, based from
Wali Songo member
Malik Ibrahim. This further name change was preceded by a massive expansion of university facilities, partly funded by the
Islamic Development Bank. ==Students and faculties==