Page 207 - Universitas Terbuka Center of Excellence In Asia 2010 and The World 2020 (A Journey Towards a Leading Open and Distance Education Institution 1984-2008)

during the UT life as an open university institution. If this condition happened
continuously, it would seriously affect UT sustainability in the future.

Beginning the registration period of 1987-2 {the academic year of
1987/1988), the UT top management decided to change the UT operations

system , including change in the learning materials distribution system through
the newly improved registration system called "sistem registrasi baru yang

disempurnakan". The registration and examination period became twice a year as
implemented in the previous system. The change in the distribution system was

that the learning materials no longer directly sent to individual students'
addresses. The UT Headquarters empowered Regional Offices (UPBJJ) to play

greater roles in the distribution of the learning materials sent to the Regional
Offices. The students were not obliged to buy the learning materials. The

students wishing to buy the learning materials could get the materials in two
ways. They could directly buy the course materials in Regional Offices, or for

those living far away from the Regional Offices , they can order the materials
through the Post Office. Ordering the course materials through the Post Office

could be done by filling the order form and paying the course materials fees
using special postal clearing for purchasing the materials. The form and postal

clearing had to be sent to the respective Regional Office, which would then send
the course materials to the student's address. However, this orde_ring system by

Post Office created a new problem for the Regional Offices, because they
needed additional budget to send the course materials to the students. Finally,

many students living far away from Regional Offices preferred to buy the course
materials in groups and they sent one of them to come to the Regional Office or

the UT Headquarters to get the course materials.
The consequence of the change was that the UT Headquarters had to

provide all the course materials in each of the Regional Offices in accordance
with the number of the students catered by the Regional Office. The Regional

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