Page 265 - Universitas Terbuka Center of Excellence In Asia 2010 and The World 2020 (A Journey Towards a Leading Open and Distance Education Institution 1984-2008)

Regional Offices in Surabaya, Surakarta, Palembang, Bogor, Denpasar, Ambon

and Batam gave favorable response and significant input to sharpen up the
preliminary draft.

Devel9pment of Regional offices and
UT's Policy

Deciding on the name of Regional offices

If Universitas Terbuka {UT) had been established based on Indonesian
constitution , there would have not been any problem with decision on concept,
structure of organization , and names. Sukhothai Thamthirat Open University

(STOU) and United Kingdom Open University (UKOU) were both established

based on constitution . With the highest laws in the hierarchy, the conceivers of
both universities found no difficulties in making the concept of distance
education into reality. This was not the case of Indonesia because establishment

of a university was based on the Presidential Decree. There are three higher

laws above presidential decree: national constitution , laws, and government
regulation. The position of existing People's General Assembly's decision is even
higher, but it is not relevant because it is not concerned with higher education

implementation. Unfortunately, in 1982, when the concept of UT was formulated ,

there were no particular laws and regulations that suggest open or distance
higher education. Consequently, UT was regarded as a normal university which
should act upon regulations specified in Government Regulation on Higher

Education.
Fortunately, both UT's academic conceivers and the presidential decree

agreed upon establishment of units in regions to help UT Head Office provide

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