UT and the Government of the Regency of Kerinci Signed Memorandum of Understanding

“Reaching Out the Unreached (Menjangkau yang Tidak Terjangkau)” is the principle that Universitas Terbuka (UT) strictly upholds. UT has always endeavored to expand its wings to reach out all parts of Indonesia by building partnership and networks with the local governments. This time, UT expands its partnership network with the Government of the Regency of Kerinci.

In this opportunity, UT together with the Government of the Regency of Kerinci signed a Memorandum of Understanding as a step to establish a collaboration of both on Thursday (16/6/2022). The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding was held online in the training room of 2^nd Floor, Gedung Serbaguna or UT’s Headquarter Office. The Memorandum of Understanding between UT and the Government of the Regency of Kerinci was signed by UT’s Rector, Prof. Ojat Darojat M.Bus., Ph.D. and the Regent of Kerinci, Dr. Drs. H. Adirozal, M.Si.

UT’s Rector was accompanied by Vice Rector for Institutional Development and Partnership, Rahmat Budiman, M.Hum., Ph.D., together with the Director of UT Jambi Regional Office – (UPBJJ-UT Jambi), Yasir Riady, S.S., M.Hum. The event was attended by all the UT’s Deans, Head of Education Office of the Regency of the Regency of Kerinci H. Murison, S.Pd., S.Sos., M.Si., Head of Regional Planning and Development Agency (Bappeda) the Regency of Kerinci H. Atmir, S.E., M.M., together with his staff members.

The event started with UT’s Head Office Tour (UT HOT) or also known as Campus Tour. All the delegates of the Regent of Kerinci had the opportunity to visit the Center for Teaching Material Management (Puslaba) to personally witness the storage of books and modules before they are shipped to the students’ addresses across Indonesia. Previously, the tour started with visit to the Center for Multimedia Development Building (P2M2) in order to see the production of multi-media services made by UT to facilitate the study process of UT’s students.

The group of the visitors then went on to tour the Multi-Purpose Building or Gedung Serbaguna, UT’s Headquarter in order to follow the core of the program which is the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding. The core program was opened by the welcoming remarks by UT’s Rector, Prof. Ojat Darojat M.Bus., Ph.D. He extended his most sincere gratitude to the Regent of Kerinci and his staff members for their presence in the event in order to establish the partnership with UT. Prof. Ojat Darojat hopes that with this collaboration, the Government of the Regency of Kerinci would go hand in hand with UT to reach out the prospective students in the Regency of Kerinci’s regions. He hopes that UT would be able to held the development human resource (HR) quality, especially for teachers, personnel or employees, and the people in general in the Regency of Kerinci’s regions. Prof. Ojat added, UT endeavors to provide equal opportunity to all the people of different strata of levels, irrespective of their competence that they hold prior to their study at UT, but nonetheless, UT will pay more attention on the competence that students receive and will obtain after they graduate from UT. “UT is serious about the quality of the distance learning. The difference between UT and other universities that provide online study activities after the pandemic is that UT has done the distance education system for long time which applies the norms and principles of distance learning by emphasizing on the principles of Online Pedagogy and involving Student Engagement in the virtual learning process. In the meantime, many universities during the pandemic time are performing Emergency Remote Teaching from home. It shows the UT’s readiness to offer partnership or collaboration with the Government of the Regency of Kerinci comprehensively and wholly,” expressed Prof. Ojat.

Furthermore, the Regent of Kerinci, Dr. Drs. H. Adirozal, M.Si. extends his highest appreciation to the UT’s Rector and all the staff members for the warm and friendly welcoming remarks. Adirozal said that UT has been able to facilitate and help the students who have other obligations, as they have to work or earn incomes, as it happens mostly to the prospective students in the Regency of Kerinci’s regions. He thinks that UT’s mission to reach out all the strata levels of the people is noble one, which must be supported by all the people. Apart from that, the Regency of Kerinci also needs a great amount of support from many education service providers, such as UT, in order of increase of education rate and quality the Regency of Kerinci. He stated that the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding is the first giant step for the sake of the development of human resources in the Regency of Kerinci. There are still so many challenges ahead that both parties need to cope with, and yet this will not make the Government of the Regency of Kerinci and UT retreat from preserving their good intention. As a whole, this form of the partnership is more likely a great motivation for improving for the people of Indonesia across the regions, including the Regency of Kerinci.