Nederlandsch-Indische Artsen School

The Nederlandsch-Indische Artsen School (

Before the foundation of NIAS in 1913, in the nineteenth century, there was a type of training in the Dutch East Indies called Dokter Djawa, a form of rudimentary medical certification for Javanese people who were not permitted to attend European schools. That Dokter Jawa School, founded in 1851, began as a few rooms in the military hospital in Batavia; it was taught in the Malay language until around 1875, and after that in Dutch.^[1] In 1902, a more rigorous Dutch-language medical program was launched in Batavia called the School for Training of Native Doctors STOVIA. The type of training given there was more rigorous and the students received the title 'Indies Physician' rather than Dokter Jawa.^[1]

NIAS was founded in 1913 in a residential house in

In 1923 the new purpose-built building was opened and the first cohort of certified graduates were sent out to begin their service.^[3] During the 1920s the institution hired a number of European-trained doctors as instructors, most famously Dr. Soetomo. In 1928 a new school of dentistry was established next door to NIAS, called School Tot Opleiding van Indische Tandartsen (STOVIT).

Upon the

After Indonesia achieved its independence from the Netherlands, the former NIAS was incorporated into a new university founded in Surabaya, Airlangga University, which was officially announced by Sukarno in 1954.^[4]

Noteworthy graduates

• Ibnu Sutowo, independence fighter and cabinet minister under Suharto
• Suharso, doctor known for pioneering physical rehabilitation and prosthetics in Indonesia
• G. A. Siwabessy cabinet minister under Suharto
• Satrio Sastrodiredjo, Communist Party politician

References