Problem: The first Seventh-day Adventist training school established in Indonesia was the Netherlands East Indies Training School (Indonesia Union College after 1962) founded in 1929. The school has since grown considerably and achieved university status, but no comprehensive history of it has been written. This lack points to a need for a systematic examination of the development of Seventh-day Adventist higher education in Indonesia. This study reconstructs the history of this institution from 1929 to 1970.

Method: The documentary-historical method, based on published and unpublished materials, was used. Materials included books, periodicals, school bulletins, minutes of the Indonesia Union Mission, Indonesia Union College board and faculty; school financial statements, correspondence, and other documents pertaining to the history of the school. Indonesian materials were translated into English by the writer.

Conclusions: Indonesia Union College was founded in a small compound for a small objective--to train Bible workers and colporteurs. It grew as its goals and objectives were broadened to follow Ellen G. White's concept of education--to train masses of church youth in character development and for service to God and to humanity. These philosophical objectives coincided with rising national educational expectations of schooling the masses. The early curriculum, patterned after American Adventist education, was inadequate for the long-term interest of the constituency. Therefore, Indonesia Union College gradually shifted to the structure of the national system of education. Curriculum originally designed to gain accreditation as a senior college by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists status, began changing to meet the minimum requirements of the Indonesian Department of Education.

From the examination of the history of the school between 1929 to 1970, it is concluded that the philosophy that guided the operation of the institution has remained basically the same. Special emphases, however, have been given to certain aspects from time to time. The philosophical question, "Education for what?" remains and must be firmly addressed. Periodic review of the philosophy of the institution must be an ongoing process to clarify its mission, goals, and objectives.