Transformational steps towards becoming an entrepreneurial open university: experience of Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia

Abstract

Open universities and distance higher education institutions worldwide are under increasing challenges to transform themselves to become more entrepreneurial due to the continuing decrease in public funding and the changing expectations of the stakeholders. This paper addresses recent trends in the shifting of paradigm of the open university towards becoming a more entrepreneurial institution, based on the experience and lessons learnt of Universitas Terbuka (UT), Indonesia. The term “entrepreneurial university” has been introduced in the new millennium and the idea has gained worldwide adoption by higher education institutions because of the growing concerns of stakeholders with improved performance and quality of higher education system. The idea of “entrepreneurial university” relates to the notion of the university’s capability in the dissemination of knowledge and the creation of added values to the society. The conventional university system seems to fit to the traditional notion of entrepreneurial university due to its research capability and its established long-time relations with industries and the community using its services. The idea of an entrepreneurial open university has somewhat different notion because the open university has the teaching and reaching a large number of students as its main function, with limited potential capacity in research and services to the industry. For Indonesia, the UT has been established since 1984 with significant teaching function, and it has consistently moving towards a more entrepreneurial institution with less dependence on government funding. The UT’s entrepreneurial character can be described in the following scenarios. Politics, government policy and recent legal reform have transformed the scenery of higher education system in Indonesia, in which institutions have to “dress” themselves in the new form as legal entity with greater autonomy in academic and managerial matters. Decrease in government funding and rising demand for quality higher education has enforced the UT to re-draw its policies and strategies to become an entrepreneurial open university. These new strategies include establishing mutual partnership and networking with stakeholders, diversification of programs and fee structures, focus on revenue generating programs, and effective management of the revenues to improve a variety of student learning support system. To ensure sustainability, an entrepreneurial open university should be able to meet the requirements for quality assurance, ability to meet stakeholders’ expectations, provision of affordable quality education, good corporate governance cultures, systematic planning, open management system, and establishment of a learning organisation