Paramadina University has been built on foundations of Pidealism, not merely in response to the business opportunities education provides. A concern for the current state of the nation as well as its future was the driving force behind the initiative to establish this institute of higher learning. This concern was translated into a concrete moral struggle for developing an educated and ethical civil society. Driven by the late Prof. Dr. Nurcholish Madjid, this Islamic University with Indonesian and modern perspectives officially opened its doors in January 1998.