In 1998, BATAN started realizing that the associate degree program that it offered for its staff was still not enough to meet national and international standards due to the low academic and technical skills of its graduates in its associate degree program. PATN, as a result of this, has elevated its D3 program to a D4 program (4-year Applied Science Diploma Program, a D4 program in the Indonesian system of higher education). It was in 2001, after extensive preparations, that PATN transformed into a college known as Sekolah Tinggi Teknologi Nuklir - Badan Tenaga Atom Nasional, STTN-BATAN.
