Universitas Terbuka (UT) has obtained both national and international accreditations. Internationally, UT has been awarded the ‘International Accreditation’ and ‘Certificate of Quality’ by the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE), the later has just been achieved by UT this november. Standard Agency (ISA), and ISO 9001:2000 by the Certification bodies, i.e. SAI Global and SGS. Furthermore, UT’s study programs have also been accredited by The National Accreditation Board of Higher Education (BAN-PT).

UT is Indonesia’s 45th state university which employs open and distance learning (ODL) system. This system has been proven to be effective in increasing educational outreach and in widening access to quality 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. Since its inception in 1984, UT has been providing a wide opportunity to all citizens of Indonesia, fresh senior high school graduates as well as working adults, to actively engage in higher education, regardless of their domicile, age and socioeconomic background. UT offers learning flexibility system to people who do not have the luxury of attending face-to-face higher education system. Regardless of students’ individual situations, the open and flexible educational system used by UT helps them to achieve their learning goals because of:

• no time limitation to complete the study, i.e. no dropout system;
• no time limitation on the year of graduation from senior high school, thus no age limit;
• all year-round registration period;
• flexible phase, place and time to study in accordance with student’s own convenience;
• use of multimedia learning materials, including printed learning materials accompanied by audio and video cassettes/CD, CD-ROM, radio and TV broadcast, as well as Computer-Assisted Instructions (CAI) and Internet-based learning materials.

With a total student body of more than 460,000, UT is within the top ten of the mega universities in the world and is one of the founding members of the Global Mega-University Network (GMUNET). GMUNET, which was established in 2003, is a worldwide network of open universities with student enrollments exceeding 100,000 students.

UT is hosting  the 24th ICDE World Conference, supported by the Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Indonesia. the conference will be held 2–5 October, 2011 on the island of Bali, Indonesia.

News Sources : Wikipedia, ICDE, kompas

Photo Source : UT

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