ABSTRACT
Indonesia first embarked on correspondence education in the 1950s. In 1984, the Indonesia Open University or Universitas Terbuka (UT) was inaugurated by Presidential Decree as the 45th university in Indonesia. It had two main missions: to broaden access to higher education and to improve teacher training standards and qualifications. With a population of around 230 million people – Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country – and with less than 20% of the relevant age group able to attend conventional universities, the open access provided by UT is seen as most important for the Indonesian people. The university now offers almost 1,000 courses to 646,467 students, 84% of whom are teachers. The majority of its students reside in Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, Sulawesi, Maluku, East Nusa Tenggara and Papua. UT also operates in Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Johor, Malaysia, and in 2011, will also start teaching students in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau and South Korea.
