Universitas Terbuka (UT) is committed to continually improving the quality of distance learning management and services provided to students. Year by year, the ongoing improvements have brought significant changes to the quality of the latest management and services implemented by UT, earning national and international recognition.
At the international level, UT has implemented a quality review process conducted by the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE), a world-class non-profit organization focusing on open and distance education. This process ensures that all management and academic service processes adhere to global standards. In 2023, following the completion of the quality review, UT received recognition to share best practices in quality assurance with all ICDE members in a virtual event titled ‘Ask the ICDE Experts: Quality Models in Regional Frameworks,’ held on December 7, 2023, from 14:00 to 15:00 UTC 1. Prof. Ojat Darojat, M.Bus., Ph.D., the Rector of UT and also the President of Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) and ICDE Focal Point for the Asia region, was a speaker alongside Prof. Moustafa Hassan from Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University (HBMSU) and Prof. Mary Morocho from Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL).
During the event attended by the Secretary-General of ICDE, Dr. Torunn Gjelsvik and members, Prof. Ojat presented best practices and developments in quality assurance for open and distance education (ODE) in Indonesia, specifically at Universitas Terbuka. In his presentation, Prof. Ojat emphasized that UT’s quality assurance standards are continually updated and aligned with the quality assurance standards proposed by AAOU and the National Accreditation Board for Higher Education (BAN-PT).
Another speaker, Prof. Moustafa Hassan, explained the development of the quality assurance framework in the Arab region. He highlighted that the quality assurance framework in the region underwent simplification known as the Middle East e-Learning Quality Framework (MELQ) 2.0. Meanwhile, Prof. Mary Morocho discussed the developments and changes in the quality assurance framework in the Latin American region.
The event concluded with a question-and-answer session and discussions with participants, followed by a group photo with the speakers and all attendees. This activity shared best practices in quality assurance implemented by various PTTJJ in three different regions worldwide, providing inspiration for all stakeholders in the field of PTTJJ.
