Page 157 - Universitas Terbuka Center of Excellence In Asia 2010 and The World 2020 (A Journey Towards a Leading Open and Distance Education Institution 1984-2008)
P. 157

Other  than  internet  providers,  UT  has  also  cooperated  with  some
            newspapers  and  magazines  to  conduct  tutorials through  printed  media. Since  the
            early  1990's, Mitra  Desa  newspaper,  which  belongs  to  Pikiran  Rakyat  newspaper

            group  in  Bandung,  has  established  partnership  with  UT  to  allow  written  tutorials
            published  in  the  newspaper.  A  similar  format  of  partnership  has  also  been

            established  with  Surya  45  newspaper in  Surabaya.



            Examination
                 Ensuring  the  quality  of  examination  results  requires  quality  test  item

            writing.  Like  other  academic  areas  such  as  curriculum ,  learning  materials  and
            tutorials , test  item  writing  is  done  by  cooperating  with  local  state  universities. To

            ensure  quality  standards,  cross  reviews  of  the  test  items  are  applied.  The  test
            items  written  by  UT  academic  staff  are  to  be  reviewed  by  content  experts  from

            the  state  universities.  On  the  contrary, test items  developed  by  lecturers from  the
            state universities are  to  be  reviewed  by  UT  academic staff.

                 At  the  end  of  the  semester,  UT  administers  final  semester  examination .
            Broadly speaking,  examination  is  administered  for two  major programs, i.e.,  basic

            education  (Pendidikan  Dasar  or  Pendas)  and  non-basic  education  (Non
            Pendidikan  Dasar  or  Nonpendas) .  The  examination  for  the  Pendas  program  is

            usually  administrated  in  July  and  December,  while  the  examination  for  the
            Nonpendas  program  is  conducted  in  May  and  November.  The  examination  is

            administered  on  Sundays  so  that  it  will  not  disrupt  the  activities  of  examinees
            who  are  mostly  working  adults . The  examination  is  administered  on  campus  and

            in  elementary  as  well  as  secondary  schools.  The  people  involved  in  the
            examination  administration  include  the  personnel  in  charge  of  the  examination

            location, examination  supervision  and  examination  proctoring  are  appointed  from
            the  UT  own  staff.  UT  also  recruits  additional  personnel  to  supervise  the

            examination  from  local  schools.  This  has  been  made  possible  because  of  the


                                                                                         135
   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162