Coordinating Minister For Human Development And Culture Inaugurates New Building UT Surabaya And Islamic Boarding School Salut

SURABAAYA - Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (Menko PMK) Pratikno inaugurated the new building of the Surabaya Open University (UT) and launched the Islamic Boarding School-Based Open University Service Center (Salut) program on Jl. Ir. Soekarno, MERR, Surabaya, Saturday.

"On this occasion there are two important agendas. First, the inauguration of the new UT Surabaya building. Second, the launch of the Islamic Boarding School Salut, as a form of UT services that are present closer to the pesantren environment," said Pratikno.

He explained that the existence of Islamic boarding schools spread to remote villages in Indonesia is a great potential in improving the quality of human resources (HR).

Therefore, he continued, collaboration between UT and Islamic boarding schools is a strategic step.

"This is a collaboration of two major powers, UT as a university with the largest number of students and Islamic boarding schools as religious education institutions that are widely spread. This was first done and started from East Java which was indeed the basis for Islamic boarding schools," he said.

According to Pratikno, the central government welcomes this collaboration because it is considered capable of equally reaching and improving the quality of community education.

The Chancellor of the Open University, Dr. Mohamad Yunus, SAS, MA said that UT's cooperation with pesantren had been carried out in various regions in Indonesia. However, each UT unit has its own characteristics.

"This collaboration does not only occur in Surabaya, but also in other areas. Islamic boarding schools are strategic partners in expanding UT education services, because their existence is synonymous with Islamic colors in various regions," said Yunus.

He added that UT Surabaya is expected to be a pioneer in developing pesantren community-based services, as well as expanding access to higher education for students and the surrounding community.

Meanwhile, Director of UT Surabaya Dr. Suparti, M.Pd., stated that this new building is not just a physical facility, but a tangible form of UT Surabaya's big vision in improving the quality of remote education services that are inclusive, modern, and adaptive to technological developments.

This building is a symbol of our determination to continue to provide higher education services that are easily accessible to anyone, from anywhere. We believe that education is the right of all citizens, and UT is here to bridge that hope," Suparti said.

UT Surabaya's new building is built with a green building, equipped with digital learning support facilities, academic interaction rooms, student service centers, and online learning content production studios.

This facility is designed to answer the challenges of the times and support digital transformation in the implementation of open higher education.