The establishment of the Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, began with the opening of the B I/B II Course program in 1956, which was aimed at enhancing the quality of teaching and increasing teaching staff at engineering schools throughout Indonesia by the Ministry of PD and K, among others, in Bandung, Semarang and Surabaya.

In 1956 the BI/BII Engineering course was opened in Yogyakarta with the majors: (1) Machinery; and (2) Buildings. Furthermore, with the Decree of the Minister of PD and K No. 82600/S dated 31 August 1957, as of 1 September 1957 one more department was opened, namely the Bridge Construction Department. So that in the 1957/1958 academic year the BI/BII Engineering Course had three majors, namely: (1) Engineering Department; (2) Building Major; and (3) Bridge Construction Major. Due to the lack of interest in the Bridge Construction major, in 1962/1963 the BI/BII engineering courses were changed to: (1) Engineering Department; (2) Department of Building Construction; and (3) Civil Engineering Department.
In 1961, there was a very fundamental change to the BI/BII course institute, which was carried out by the Minister of PD and K with a decree no. 7/1981 dated 7 February 1961 the BI/BII Engineering Course changed to the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Engineering Section (FKIP Engineering Section), which was part of Gadjah Mada University. In 1963 with the Decree of the Minister of PTIP No.55 of 1963, dated May 22, 1963, established the establishment of IKIP Jakarta, IKIP Bandung, IKIP Yogyakarta and IKIP Malang since May 1, 1963, with the following faculties:

     1. Faculty of Educational Sciences;
     2. Teaching Faculty of Social Sciences;
     3. Teaching Faculty of Art and Literature;
     4. Teaching Faculty of Exact Sciences; and
     5. Teaching Faculty of Engineering.

In the 1965/1966 academic year, the Teaching Faculty of Engineering, according to the needs of electrical engineering teachers, the departments were added to: (1) Department of Mechanical Engineering; (2) Department of Electrical Engineering; (3) Department of Building Engineering; and (4) Department of Civil Engineering.

In line with the increasing need for teachers for STM and the need for instructors at the Technical Education Training Center (BLPT), the government, with financial assistance from the World Bank IV Project, which began in 1976, provided assistance to the FKT IKIP Yogyakarta and FKT IKIP Padang in the form of and adequate infrastructure, namely the construction of the new FKT Yogyakarta campus which is located to the north of the IKIP Yogyakarta Central Building.

There were at least 4 aspects of the assistance provided through World Bank IV Project, namely: (1) construction of a new building complete with procurement of equipment which includes lecture halls, laboratories and workshops; (2) improvement of the competence of lecturers through domestic and foreign training; (3) program development/implementation funds; and (4) educational consultant assistance (experts from abroad).

The main program of World Bank IV assistance for FKT IKP Yogyakarta and Padang was to prepare teachers who were skilled in teaching practice in laboratories and workshops for STM. So that the curriculum must be adjusted or oriented to the STM curriculum. With this new program, the majors at FKT IKIP Yogyakarta were as follows:

     1.    Department of Electrical Engineering Education;
     2.    Department of Electronic Engineering Education;
     3.    Department of Mechanical Engineering Education;
     4.    Department of Automotive Engineering Education; and
     5.    Department of Building Engineering Education.

The implementation of this new program began in the 1979/1980 academic year. While the new building of FKT IKIP Yogyakarta and Padang was officially inaugurated by President Soeharto on October 14, 1981, in Yogyakarta. World Bank IV’s fund in the form of a project officially ended on December 31, 1980. And the first product (graduate) was at the end of the academic year 1982/1983. For this purpose, from the beginning of 1981 to the end of 1983, the FKT IKIP Yogyakarta and Padang received funds from UNDP in the form of a grant. UNDP’ fund was finally able to be extended until the end of 1984.

Based on the Decree of the Minister of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia No.0141/O/1983 dated March 5, 1983, and No.0554/O/1983, the name FKT was changed to FPTK (Fakultas Pendidikan Teknologi dan Kejuruan/Faculty of Technology and Vocational Education). At the same time, the Department of Family Welfare Education (PKK), which was previously under the Faculty of Education, was integrated under the Faculty of Technology and Vocational Education with two study programs, namely the Culinary and Fashion Studies Program. Thus, since then FPTK has 6 departments, namely:

     1.    Department of Electrical Engineering Education;
     2.    Electronic Engineering Education Department;
     3.    Mechanical Engineering Education Department;
     4.    Automotive Engineering Education Department;
     5.    Department of Building Engineering Education; and
     6.    Family Welfare Education Department.

After the end of the fund from the World Bank, FPTK IKIP Yogyakarta was still given the opportunity to receive assistance from UD-3 in the form of operational assistance, starting from 1986 to 1991.

The year 1997 was a milestone in the transformation of IKIP into a university which was crystallized in 1999/2000. This wider mandate moment became the starting point in the history of FPTK turning into the Faculty of Engineering (FT) which is committed to technology and vocational education but develops non-educational disciplines within the limits of its authority. The integration of educational and non-educational fields under one roof in the faculty makes the fields of teaching science that they develop even stronger in the spirit of teacher science which always follows developments in science and technology that are currently developing.

The conversion of FPTK to FT had a significant impact on the number of study programs held and thus increased the number of students studying at FT. The number of study programs held by FT in 2012 totalled 17 consisting of 9 undergraduate education study programs and 8 non-educational D3 study programs. As time goes by and the development of the faculty, since 2017 FT UNY has held a professional study program namely PPI (Program Profesi Insinyur/Professional Engineer Program) and in 2019 FT UNY opened 4 new non-educational undergraduate study programs namely Electrical Engineering, Information Technology, Manufacturing, and Civil Engineering. In subsequent developments, eight non-educational D3 study programs received the mandate to be developed into non-educational D4 programs. Thus, to date, there are 22 study programs in the Faculty of Engineering, UNY, consisting of 9 undergraduate education study programs, 8 non-educational D4 study programs, 4 non-educational undergraduate study programs and 1 professional education study program.

Decree of the President of the Republic of Indonesia Number 93 of 1999, article 1 paragraph (2a) concerning the Change of the Institut Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan (IKIP) to Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta (UNY) explains that UNY has the tasks of: (1) organizing academic and/or educational programs professionals in a number of disciplines of science, technology, and/or certain arts; and (2) developing education, teacher training, and educating academic and professional staff in the field of education. This task was strengthened by the Decree of the Minister of National Education Number 003/O/2001 concerning the Statutes of UNY, which was later updated by Permenristekdikti Number 35 of 2017 namely organizing academic education and being able to carry out vocational education in various fields of science and or technology and if it meets the requirements, it can organize professional education. Based on the tasks above, the Faculty of Engineering (FT) as one of the faculties at UNY organizes 21 study programs synergistically organizing academic, professional, and vocational education, as well as developing science, technology and vocational. Thus, the main task of the Faculty of Engineering UNY is to produce professional education graduates in the field of Technology and Vocational Education, Bachelor of Engineering and Associate Engineers who are superior creative and innovative based on piety, intellectual and independent who uphold the values of Pancasila.

The Department of Civil Engineering and Planning Education, as part of the Faculty of Engineering, UNY also continues to develop itself, and currently holds 3 study programs consisting of:

     1.    S1-Civil Engineering Planning and Education Study Program 
     2.    S1-Civil Engineering Study Program 
     3.    Civil Engineering Study Program Applied Undergraduate Program