Prof. Dr. Komaruddin Hidayat is a prominent Indonesian Muslim academic and intellectual. He was appointed as the Rector of Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia (UIII) or Indonesian International Islamic University (IIIU) by President Joko Widodo in 2019. Apart from his academic work, he is also a prolific writer and a columnist in the national mass media. Previously, he was the Rector of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta in 2006-2010 and 2010-2015.
Prof. Hidayat has been close to the Islamic world since childhood, particularly the "pesantren" (Islamic boarding schools). He graduated from a modern boarding school in Pabelan (Magelang) in 1969 and the Pesantren al-Iman (Muntilan) in 1971. He then earned a BA in Islamic Education (1977) and a doktorandus (Dutch academic title according to the pre-Bachelor–Master system) in the same area at IAIN Jakarta (the old UIN Jakarta) in 1981.
He frequently writes op-eds in Indonesian mass media such as Kompas and Republika. He has sat on the Editorial Board of the magazine Ulumul Qur'an since 1991, the Editorial Board of Studia Islamika since 1994, and the Board of Editors of the Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. Since 1990 he has been a researcher with the Endowments Paramadina Foundation (Yayasan Wakaf Paramadina), Jakarta.
Prof. Hidayat continued his doctoral studies abroad. He received a doctorate in Western Philosophy from the Middle East Technical University (Ankara, Turkey) in 1990.
Prof. Hidayat became a Professor at the Graduate Faculty of IAIN Jakarta in 1990, a lecturer with the Graduate Faculty of the University of Indonesia in 1992, and a professor at the School of Philosophy (STF) Driyarkara since 1993.