The Master of Engineering in Natural Disaster Management, known by its acronym in Bahasa Indonesia as MTPBA ( Magister Teknik Pengelolaan Bencana Alam), is a newly established study program in Faculty of Engineering. It was officially founded in September 16, 2013 by the Decree of The Rector of UGM, Number 911/P/SK/HT/2013. MTPBA, though, has been long operating as a master program. It started in 2001 as a master program in natural disaster management within the Master of Engineering in Civil Engineering at The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering UGM. There were 15 students in the first batch in 2001. The curriculum at that time was focused on sediment-related disaster management. Under the new program, MTPBA, the curricula has been enlarged to include three majors, namely water and sediment-related disaster, earthquake-related disaster, and volcanic disaster.

MTPBA operates two groups of class; one delivers courses in Bahasa Indonesia and the other in English. The first group hosts mainly scholarships holders from the Ministry of Public Works of the Republic of Indonesia. The second group hosts students from ASEAN countries under the AUN/SEED-Net (ASEAN University Network, South-east Asia Engineering Education Development Network). MTPBA is the Host Institution of Natural Disaster Field within the AUN/SEED-Net. Some Indonesian students, mainly those from fast-track program of the Department of Civil Engineering, join this group.

Prospective students are those holding bachelor degree in engineering (Sarjana Teknik) from university accredited by BAN-PT and fulfills entry requirements, such as minimum scores of GPA, English proficiency test, and academic potential test. Students of MTPBA have possibilities to apply for exchange programs to partner universities abroad that are frequently open to students, such as to University of Tsukuba in Japan. Students are encouraged also to present papers in international conferences, notably ones annually organized by AUN/SEED-Net. Funding is sometimes available under competitive selection basis.