Department of Chemical Engineering Diponegoro University was founded in 1965 as a respond of vast increase of chemical industries in Indonesia, including Semarang as the capital of Central Java Province. The idea of establishing the department came from Ir. Basit Wachid and Ir. Nisyamhuri. In August 1965 the Department of Chemical Engineering became the third department in the Faculty of Engineering after the Department of Civil Engineering and the Department of Architecture.
In its early ages, the department was supported by ten full-time academic staffs and seventeen part-time staffs from the Gadjah Mada University and industries. After more than four decades, now the department consists of forty one academic staffs. Twenty of the staffs hold doctorate degree, while the rest hold master degree.
Over the past four decades, the department has trained and produced engineering manpower of high quality. Up to Mei 2018, the department has graduated more than 5,000 graduates. Many of the graduates are now in top positions in the industry, R & D organizations, government, and academia.