Sebelas Maret University (Indonesian: Universitas Sebelas Maret) is an Indonesian public university in the suburban area of Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia. It is colloquially known as UNS or UNS Solo. In 1975, there were five universities in Surakarta. To accelerate the education development, the government initiated in merging of those five into one single institution. These schools were spread over as small buildings around the city; they were merged on one new location, in a suburban area called Kenthingan. Universitas Negeri Surakarta or UNS was founded. It was built on a hilly area spreading out over 60 hectares. After being consolidated, the institution started to improve its infrastructure in 1980. The development consisted of large improvement of basic facilities such as transportation, communications, power supplies, and buildings. The development was followed by development in areas such as human resource improvement and academic mechanism. Being officially merged on March 11, 1976, it was named Universitas Negeri Surakarta Sebelas Maret which means "The State University of Surakarta Eleventh of March." Later it was shortened to Universitas Sebelas Maret.