Page 208 - Universitas Terbuka Center of Excellence In Asia 2010 and The World 2020 (A Journey Towards a Leading Open and Distance Education Institution 1984-2008)

Offices had to have spaces for the warehouse of the course materials and

applied a new administration and warehousing system in order to give the best
services to the students . In this way, UT improved the learning materials

distribution services to the students . This improved system was reflected in the
low frequency of complaints and the gradual increase in the number of student

registration.
However, the main constraint appeared to be in ensuring that there was

enough supply of the course materials in every Regional Office. The UT
Headquarters had difficulties in predicting the students' need of the course

materials in every Regional Office precisely, because the students were not
obliged to buy the course materials. However, the UT Headquarters had to

provide enough supply of the course materials in every Regional Office as many
as the total number of registering students in every Study Program . Th is often

caused problems in the piling up of stock for certain courses, while some other
courses may have run out of stock. The UT learning materials were used not

only by the UT students but also many other university students. Besides, there
was a tendency that students would register and buy the course materials

towards the end of the closing date of registration in each semester, so that the
Regional Offices ran out of the course materials during that period of time . It

took about two to three weeks to order the course materials from UT
Headquarters and get the materials sent to the Regional Office on the condition

that there were stock of learning materials available in the Head Office
Distribution Centre. This time constraint made the time shorter for the students

to study the materials.

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