The Academic Community of the Open University (UT) is routinely held every Monday morning. Calling Monday 6 February 2023, with the supervisor of the Open University (UT) Chancellor, Prof. Ojat Darojat, M.Bus, PhD, carried out online which was attended by Educators and Educational Staff in Central and regional UT environments.
While the officer of the appeal on this occasion from FKIP UT, with , event guide by Sdri. Muktia Pramitasari, M.Pd; Pancasila manuscript reader by Sdri. Siti Utami Dewi Ningrum, SS, MA; Readers of the opening manuscript of the 1945 Constitution by Sdr. Faizal Ahmad Ahdi Masbukin, S.Pd, M.Sc; and ended with a prayer reading by Sdr. Muhammad Sulaiman, S.Pd, B.I.S, M.Pd.
In his address, the Chancellor of UT said that “Ladies and gentlemen, friends of UT, there are two things I would like to convey on this occasion. First, regarding the Teacher Professional Education Program (PPG), starting in 2023 UT has been entrusted by the Ministry of Education and Culture to organize PPG, which will be implemented at the Teaching and Education Faculty (FKIP), UT,” said the Chancellor of UT starting his direction when he became the supervisor of the Apple Monday morning which is carried out virtually.
“Second, the progress of admission and registration of new UT students for the 2023.1 registration period, based on data from the UT Academic, Student Affairs and Planning Bureau (BAKP), the number of new student admissions until February 6 2023 is 120,796 people. At this time, there is no longer any thin and fat semester, this semester’s students are more than the previous semester. We thank you, ladies and gentlemen, all of you who have struggled, worked hard, especially our friends and relatives in the field at UPBJJ UT who are spread from Sabang-Merauke, you are special, extraordinary, for spending time day and night, introducing UT to the deepest parts of its respective coverage area, through the hills, fields, rice fields, valleys, to the coast, the outermost islands of this country.” said the Chancellor of UT enthusiastically.
“Our friends at UPBJJ are real fighters in student recruitment. Thank you, friends, continue our struggle to reach one million students. God willing, the results will not betray the process. I just want to remind you that there are only two keywords in struggle, namely resilience is the ability to get up and recover when things don’t go as expected, and perseverance is persistence/persistence to achieve a goal,” continued the UT Chancellor while clenching his fists enthusiastically.
“The next step is to oversee, how can students with this large admission rate be able to register in a short time. In the marketing strategy, we are at the stage of realizing desire towards action, there is the AIDAS (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action, and Satisfaction) strategy. How to make Desire that is to make an offer that can not be refused. This means that we will continue to stimulate students’ desires, until finally they intend to study at UT. We try to get rid of various obstacles, rejection, interruptions or other things. This stage can be done by providing promotions, the best offers, discounts, providing interesting information about products, benefits of using products, and so on,” said the Chancellor of UT with full optimism.
Then, how can we change from Desire to Actions, which is the fourth stage, to make students take action studying at UT. Promotional activities are considered successful if students buy the products that have been offered. This can be done by inviting consumers to buy our products. We don’t take a wrong step, so that the marketing strategy, to approach new prospective students, is carried out with the right steps, so that the results are good, optimal and support our dream, reaching one million students.
As long as I was given the mandate to become the Chancellor of UT, as the captain on the big UT ship, there were so many gifts given by Allah SWT, now is a turning point to rise to increase the number of students and carry out other government programs.
Based on a letter from the Acting Director General of Higher Education, No 1250/E.E3/DT.03.02/2022, UT was approved to open a Teacher Professional Education (PPG) program starting in 2023 for five study programs, namely PGSD, PGPAUD, Biology Education, Physics Education, and Economics Education. As for the first stage, the PPG program was not implemented extensively in all UPBJJ, it was only tried in five places, especially for pre-positions, at UPBJJ Bogor, Serang, Majene, Bandung, and Central UT.
However, for those who are in service training, because the PPG program is divided into two types, there are those in service (in service) and before the position (pre-service). For the in-service segment to expand, there have been several requests from the field that have so far been out of reach, for example the province of Bangka Belitung, which complained that teachers there were unable to study at Sriwijaya University, South Sumatra.
As in West Sulawesi, the University of West Sulawesi has not been given the mandate to organize PPG, including in Tarakan. There are five provinces that have submitted input to the government so that UT can become a solution in the framework of implementing the PPG program in their regions. Another news was that teachers in border areas, for example in Kinabalu, Keke Sabah, Tawau, asked the government that UT open the PPG program for them.
That’s it ladies and gentlemen, sorry for any shortcomings, keep up the enthusiasm and always be happy with your family. Hope it is useful.