Universitas Terbuka (UT, literally Open University) is Indonesia state university and employs Open and Distance Learning (ODL) system to widen access to higher education to all Indonesian citizens, including those who live in remote islands throughout the country, as well as in various parts of the world. It has a total student body of 1,045,665 (as of 2019/2020 according to Indonesia's Ministry of Education and Culture Higher Education database).^[3] According to a distance education institution in the UK, which published "The Top Ten Mega Universities", UT-3 ranks closely with universities from China and Turkey.^[4]

Mission

UT's focus is on educating people who, for various reasons including lack of funding, rural isolation and full-time employment, do not have opportunity to attend conventional face-to-face higher education institutions.

The university's mission is:

1. to expand the opportunity for quality higher education through the distance education system;
2. to produce competent academicians and professionals who are able to compete globally;
3. to increase participation in continuing education in order to create a knowledge-based society;
4. to increase the quality and quantity of research and development in the distance education system, especially in distance higher education;
5. to innovatively and continuously disseminate and share information on distance education especially on distance higher education;
6. to strengthen national unity and integrity through the broad and equal provision of higher education;
7. to increase cross-cultural understanding and networking through local, national and global partnerships;
8. to produce academic products in distance higher education as well as in other fields of knowledge.

Accreditation

UT has been awarded the 'International Accreditation' and 'Certificate of Quality' by the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) Standard Agency (ISA), and ISO 9001:2000 by the Certification bodies, i.e. SAI Global and SGS. UT's study programs have also been accredited by The National Accreditation Board of Higher Education (BAN-PT).^[5]

Learning Materials

Learning activities can be conducted at anywhere and any time.

Printed material (known as module) serves as the main learning medium, supplemented by non-printed materials such as recorded learning materials (audio video cassettes, CD, radio and TV), as well as computer-based learning materials (CAI and Internet based). To provide optimal education services to students who are spread all over the country and abroad, UT collaborates with agencies such as the PT Pos Indonesia, Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), Televisi Republik Indonesia (TVRI), Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI), Local Government Radio Broadcast, Radio Broadcast Private Commerce, Regional Office/Department of Education, Education Attache Embassy of Indonesia, National Library, and local libraries.

Open University is working with agencies that want to improve the quality of its employees: government agencies, state enterprises, or private. They can follow the program in the UT or order a new study program to suit the needs of the office. UT has been to get the trust of the government to improve the quality of primary school teachers through the Equalization Program D2 Elementary School Teacher. In addition, UT has won the trust to improve the quality of human resources from the military, Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), PT Bank BNI (Bank Negara Indonesia), Garuda Indonesia, Merpati Nusantara, Ministry of Agriculture, [./Https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sekretariat%20Wakil%20Presiden%20Republik%20Indonesia Setwapres], and several other agencies.

Learning Support Service

The learning support services consist of academic and administrative services.

Academic Services The academic services are provided through tutorials. There are two kinds of tutorials: face-to-face and at a distance via radio, television, and internet. Furthermore, practical works are also provided for courses that need practicum. Both tutorials and practical works are facilitated by qualified tutors, instructors, and or supervisors, who come from various well-known public and private universities as well as from UT itself. For certain courses, resource persons are sometimes invited from business, industry and other relevant sectors.

Administrative Services Administrative services are emphasized in providing assistance to students in registration, obtaining learning materials, applying for credit transfer, and addressing other matters that can influence students' study process.

Student Assessment

The assessment of student learning is based on: tutorial assignments, practical works, practicum assignments, and final examination. These components reflect students' overall learning achievement and contribute to the semester final grades of the students.

UT administers final examinations at the end of every semester or twice a year. Final examinations are conducted as supervised pencil-paper tests simultaneously throughout the country. Students who take the Bachelor (Sarjana/S1) Programs are required to take the Program's Final Assignment at the end of the program as part of the requirements. Students who take the Master Programs (S2) are required to write Master Program's Final Assignment (a thesis) and pass the final oral examination. For certain courses and cases UT also offers the opportunity for students to take the examination on-line.

Final grades are announced via various methods including through UT website, and UPBJJ-UT.

Operational Networking

UT has 41 regional offices: 40 UPBJJ-UT and 1 PPM-LN.^[6] The UPBJJ-UT themselves are located in the capitals of each Indonesia 34 provinces in addition to 5 major cities of Bogor, Purwokerto, Surakarta, Jember, and Malang, in addition to the recently (re-)established UPBJJ in Dili, Timor Leste, in 2019,^[7] and the UT PPM-LN or foreign office. To support their operations, each UPBJJ-UT establishes close collaboration with various institutions, particularly with:

• The local public and private universities for getting tutors, practicum instructors, and examination supervisors;
• Local governments for conducting tutorials and examination, as well as for getting scholarships for students; and
• Local radio and TV stations for relaying the tutorials and information about academic activities. The regular tutorials broadcast by the national radio stations (RRI).

At the national level, UT also has long standing collaborations with:

• Q-Channel and TV-Edukasi for broadcasting UT's TV programs;
• RRI for broadcasting radio tutorials;
• BRI and BTN for receiving tuition fees and learning materials purchase from students; and
• PT Pos Indonesia for delivering the learning materials, examination documents and other supporting materials.

Partnerships

UT has established partnerships with other institutions, including the Ministry of National Education, Ministry of Home Affairs, Navy, Ministry of Defense and Security, Ministry of Agriculture, Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), Garuda Indonesia, Merpati Nusantara, PT Pos Indonesia, Central Bureau for Statistics, PT Indosat, PT Tugu Pratama, National Coordinating Agency for Family Planning (BKKBN), and Al-Zaitun Islamic Boarding School, Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN), National Archives of Indonesia (ANRI), National Civil Service Agency (BKN), School of Business and Management (STEKPI), PT Jakarta Software Komunikasi and all provincial agencies, regencies and towns in Indonesia.

UT also has close relationships with various international organizations such as the South-East Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and SEAMEO Regional Open Learning Center(SEAMOLEC).

UT is one of the founding members of the Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU), and the Global Mega-University Network (GMUNET). In addition UT is also an active member of the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE).^[8]

Academic Programmes

UT has four faculties and one graduate program that offer more than 40 active study programmes, including doctoral programmes (S3), master programmes (S2), bachelor programmes (Sarjana/S1), diploma programmes (D3 and D4), and certificate programmes.^[9]

Facilities

Research and Development

The Center for Research and Community Services of UT (LPPM-UT) has four centers:

• Center of Institutional Research and System Development
• Center of Science
• Center of Community Services
• Inter-University Center for Improving and Developing Instructional Activities (IUC-IDIA)

Research The LPPM-UT specializes research and development in the following areas:

• Open and Distance Education
• Evaluation of Educational
• Educational Management
• Policy and Institutional Studies
• Social Development
• Regional Economic Development
• Environmental Impact Analysis
• Regional Development
• Agriculture, Fishery, and Husbandry
• Sciences
• Instructional Media
• Consultancy and Research Training
• Monitoring and Evaluation

Development of management information systems LPPM-UT provides:

• Management Information System Design
• Application of Computerized Management Information
• Systems Application
• website Design and Development
• Information Systems Development
• Information Systems Evaluation
• Media Prototype Development

Community services Community services include:

• Training for continuing education programs.
• Development of people's empowerment programs to improve the quality of life.
• Development of networks and partnerships to support the continuing education and social services programs.
• Professional consultancy services in people's empowerment, human resource, education, and development of both organization and society.

Development and Improvement of Instructions The Inter-University Center for Improving and Developing of Instructional Activities (IUC-IDIA) has a mission to improve the quality of instruction at higher levels of education at open and distance higher education and conventional universities. The IUC-IDIA professional staff have experience in conducting needs analysis, developing programs, curriculum development, assessment of learning, evaluating instructional programs, developing the prototype of learning materials, developing multi-media course materials, developing computer-based tutorials, and professional training for educators, trainers, and instructor.

The IUC-IDIA services include:

• Programs for Improving the Basic Skills of Instructional Techniques (PEKERTI)
• Applied Approach (AA)
• Development of Distance Learning Systems
• Curriculum Development
• Learning Materials Development
• Tutor's Training
• Instructional Media Development
• Development of Computer-Assisted Tutorial
• Achievement Evaluation
• Classroom Action Research

The IUC-IDIA also provides consulting services for institution capacity building in education and training, particularly in the area of instructional activities and academic programs.

The IUC-IDIA has strategic alliances with other units within UT itself, with over 51 state-owned universities, and with education and training centers in 25 Departments, Colleges belonged to certain governmental departments, as well as education and training centers for specific fields (e.g. Banking, department stores, supermarkets, etc.)

References

External links

• (in Indonesian) University website
  • (in English) English version
• (in English) History
• UT regional offices address