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2003, and  one  of active  members  of International  Council  for  Open  and  Distance

              Education  (ICDE) . UT's  membership  in  this  international context is  a form  of UT's
              participation  in  some  best  practices  in  the  implementation  of  distance  higher

              education  institutions.

                   UT's  Strategic Plan  2005-2020  was  formulated  through  a critical  analysis  by
              taking  into  account  the  following  aspects:  (1)  globalization  and  world 's economic

              changes ,  (2)  continuous  improvement  of  quality,  (3)      information  and
              communication  technology  (ICT),  (4)  changes  in  social  and  political  conditions ,

              and  (5)  equality  of  access  to  education.  These  are  the  most  important
              considerations  in  formulating  UT's  Operational  Plans,  which  are  real istic,

              concrete, measurable,  and  specific, which  make  it easy  to  be  interpreted  in  real
              actions  annually,  and  is  influential  and  beneficial  for  systematic, comprehensive

              and  continuous  development of UT  in  the  future .

                   However,  until  recently  UT  is  still  facing  some  challenges  regarding  the
              perception  of society and  public image about  distance  education  and  UT's system

              as  well  as  UT  as  a  distance  higher  education  institution.  The  perception  and
              image  should  he  continuously  improved  until  the  society  truly  convinced  that

              distance  higher  education  institution  is  a  realistic  choice  which  can  fulfill  the
              needs  of  the  society to  continue  education  at  the  university level. The  program  of

              distance  higher education  institution  should  be  in  line  with  the  progress  required
              by  professional  competence  and  cater  for  the  need  of  lifelong  education , with  the

              fee  within  the  reach  of  the  clients.  At  the  same  time,  the  culture  of  learning
              should  be  fostered,  so  that  the  system  of  distance  higher  education  can  be
              accepted  as  an  effective  mode  for  the  government  to  improve  the  quality  of

              human  resources  and  for the  community  to  create,  preserve  and  disseminate  new

              knowledge .






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