UT Starts Partnerships with Three Institutions in Graduation Ceremony Period I Academic Year 2021/2022

Universitas Terbuka (UT) conducted a graduation ceremony period I for Academic Year 2021/2022 on “Bouncing Back and Moving Forward in the New Order as Higher Education Institution as Legal Entity State University (PTN BH) or Maju Bersama dalam Tatanan Baru PTN-BH.” This graduation ceremony was performed hybrid and followed by 450 graduates coming from 39 regional offices of across Indonesia through zoom application and on Youtube UT-TV channel. The events of the graduation ceremony were performed centrally in Universitas Terbuka Convention Center (UTCC) Building and attended personally by the Rector, Chairman of the Senate, Vice Rectors, Members of the Senate, Director of UT-Bengkulu, Director of UT-Denpasar, High-Rank Officials of UT’s Headquarter, and a number of students from UPBJJ-UT Jakarta and Bogor. In addition, there were also present Governor of Bengkulu, Secretary General of Ministry of Manpower the Republic of Indonesia, Rector of University of Al-Azhar Indonesia (UAI), and Head of Community and Village Empowerment (PMD) Office, Bengkulu Province.

The graduation ceremony was open by the scientific oration presented by the Governor of Bengkulu, Dr. H. Rohidin Mersyah. He congratulated the graduating students, who have finished their education on that day. He said, “The economic development will not be successful if it is not coupled with the development of reliable human resources.” In order to promote education sector, the Government of Bengkulu Province works together in synergy with the universities located in Bengkulu Province, one of which is Universitas Terbuka, especially UPBJJ-UT Bengkulu. Universitas Terbuka offers the ease and opportunity to all the elements of the government and the people in general to obtain education so it indirectly helps the government programs to promote the education levels in Bengkulu Province. UT is a flexible and quality university in coping with the issues on HR capacity building spread across the territory of Bengkulu Province and has various number of activities with high work responsibility. IN this opportunity, the Local Government of Bengkulu Province strengthens its synergy by signing the MoU and Cooperation Agreement.

UT Rector, Prof. Ojat Darojat, M. Bus., Ph.D., in his address, congratulates the graduates for finishing their education in UT, more specially in the time of Covid-19 Pandemic. Study in UT is not way as studying here demands discipline and independence in study. He added that in order to promote the quality and quantity of its services, UT transforms from Public Services University or Perguruan Tinggi Badan Layanan Umum (BLU) into a Higher Education Institution/University as Incorporated Legal Entity (PTNBH). Entering its 38^th anniversary, UT strives to expand its reaching out to the people who live in remote and secluded areas by following the UT’s motto, which is, “Reaching Out the Unreached or Menjangkau yang Tidak Terjangkau,” supported by 39 UT’s regional offices– Universitas Terbuka (UPBJJ-UT) and 1 Center for International Student Management, 869 study groups (Pokjar), and 50 UT Services Centers (SALUT) located across Indonesia. Prior to concluding his remarks, Prof. Ojat explained that in the future in education sector, there will be more new comers who not only local but also international. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a synergy among the local universities in promoting and building human resources (HR).

Secretary General of Ministry of Manpower the Republic of Indonesia, Prof. Anwar Sanusi, Ph.D., explained that the lesson learned from this Covid-19 pandemic for education sector is that the learning system has transformed from conventional learning to more building modern, dynamic, and inclusive one, without degrading the output standard quality as prescribed. In line with this, UT, as the pioneer distance learning system, has a long history in education with more than three decades in building Human Resources who possess the quality and competitiveness in labor sector, and it will continue to implement the study methods that is current relevant to the today’s situations. He stated that UT today has 1,400 students who are Indonesia migrant workers (PMI) and participants of the apprenticeship programs in 54 countries. The public interest and enthusiasms with UT’s learning methods have made Ministry of Manpower initiate to renew the partnership with UT that has ended in February 2021.

In line with Prof. Anwar, UAI’s Rector, Prof. Dr. Ir. Asep Saefuddin, M.Sc., subsequently said that the Covid-19 Pandemic has surprised the universities with the new education system. Nonetheless, it is not an issue for UT who has long performed Open and Distance Education system (PTJJ). Therefore, UAI intends to learn the lesson on distance learning from UT. “To the students who are now studying with UT and to the UT’s graduates, you all should be proud to be part of UT,” Prof. Asep uttered. He gave a message to the graduates if they want to be a successful person, one way is to apply the principle of agile leadership, by which the UT’s leaders have set as example.

In this good opportunity, there was also the signing of Memorandum of Understanding by two higher education institutions, namely UT and University of Al-Azhar Indonesia (UAI) on the Quality Improvement for the Implementation of Three Principles of Higher Education Institution (Tri Dharma Perguruan Tinggi) by the Rector of Universitas Al-Azhar Indonesia, Prof. Dr. Ir. Asep Saefuddin, M.Sc. Additionally, the signing of Memorandum of Understanding was also performed with Secretariat General of Ministry of Manpower RoI by Prof. Anwar Sanusi, Ph.D. on the Human Resources Capacity Building. Furthermore, Cooperation Agreement or Perjanjian Kerja Sama (PKS) was also signed with Head of Kirja Community and Village Empowerment (PMD) Office, Bengkulu Province with the Director of UT-Bengkulu on Human Resources Capacity Building and the Improvement Implementation of the Quality of Three Principles of Higher Education Institution (Tri Dharma Perguruan Tinggi). Before closing, the best graduates were present in person at UTCC, namely Misra Mahmud of Master Program of Management in Human Resources of UPBJJ-UT-Majene with the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) 4.00 (Graduation Predicate of Cum Laude), as well as I Ketut De Oko Rianto of the Study Program/Department of Management, UPBJJ-UT Denpasar with the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) 4.00 (Graduation Predicate of Cum Laude), who reads out the oath of graduates.

Further, the event continued with the expression of thanks by a student representative, Dini Novita Sari, who is the graduate of UPBJJ UT-Palembang and one of the Alumni of the Bachelor Degree Study Program of Accounting. Before the UT’s Rector closed the graduation ceremony, there were a number of programs, including the first launching of UT Magazine, the presentation of alumni’s data to the UT Alumni Board (IKA-UT) and joint photo session as well as invoking prayer. May all the graduates become the people that give benefits to the people and UT as well as can promote the dignity of the nation.