The history of FBS was born together with the birth of IKIP Semarang. The embryo of the faculty was a teacher education institution in the form of the provision of Meiddelbaar Onderwijzer A Cursus (MO-A) courses for prospective SMTP teachers and Meiddelbaar Onderwijzer B Cursus (MO-B) for prospective SMTA teachers. The status of both institutions was then changed to B-I and B-II. On January 1, 1961, B-I and B-II courses were integrated into Diponegoro University (UNDIP) as one faculty named the Faculty of Education and Teacher Training (FKIP). This faculty has fifteen departments, four of which are under the Faculty of Language and Arts Education.
Due to the urgent need for teachers at that time, in addition to establishing FKIP, the Minister of Basic Education and Culture also established a new teacher institution, namely the Teacher Education Institute (IPG). The confusion of the tasks and functions of FKIP and IPG prompted the Government to merge the two types of institutions into one called the Institute of Teacher Education and Education Sciences (IKIP). However, FKIP UNDIP did not immediately become IKIP because at that time the institution was considered unable to stand alone. The solution taken by the government at that time was to change FKIP UNDIP to IKIP Yogyakarta Branch Semarang.
The public’s interest in continuing their studies at the Yogyakarta Branch Semarang IKIP turned out to be very high. Therefore, its development was rapid. Seeing this condition, the government on March 8, 1965, changed the Yogyakarta Branch Semarang IKIP into IKIP Semarang with five faculties. One of them is the Faculty of Language, Literature, and Arts Education (FKSS).
At its birth, FKSS had four departments, namely (1) Indonesian Language and Literature Department, (2) English Language and Literature Department, (3) French Language and Literature Department, and (4) Fine Arts Department. In 1982, the name FKSS was changed to the Faculty of Language and Arts Education (FPBS). Considering the high demand for junior and senior high school teachers and other equivalent schools, the government tasked FKSS with opening a Diploma Program. The programs that were once owned were Diploma 1 and Diploma 2 (as a continuation of the PGSLP program), Diploma 3 (as a continuation of the PGSLA Program), and Strata 1.
Starting from 1995, FPBS consisted of 4 departments with 7 programs, namely (1) Department of Indonesian Language and Literature Education, with programs in Indonesian Language and Literature Education (S1) and Indonesian Literature (S1), (2) English Language and Literature Education with programs in English Language Education (S1) and English Literature (S1), (3) Foreign Language Education, with a program in French Language Education (S1), (4) Fine Arts and Crafts Education with a program in Fine Arts Education (S1) and Art Education. In addition, in 1998, IKIP Semarang added a new program by establishing a Postgraduate Program. The department within FPBS that entered the postgraduate program was the Department of Language Education (Indonesian and English).
Based on Presidential Decree No. 124 of 1999, IKIP Semarang was changed to Semarang State University (UNNES), which was officially inaugurated by the Minister of National Education on January 27, 2000. With this change, FPBS changed its name to the Faculty of Language and Arts (FBS).
Currently, with 6 majors, the Faculty of Humanities and Culture has 16 undergraduate programs/specializations with the following details:
