Download - IDL-BNC @ IDRC - International Development ...

Financial Management 21Development (HRD) (32 per cent). This is because UT has over 1,700staff in 2006, including 751 academic and 1,025 administrative/support staff. The costs for course development, learning supportsand general administration were also high, since the coursedevelopment budget included new course developments as wellas revisions. UT has a policy of revising its course materials everyseven years. Thus, with over 1,000 courses, an average of 143 courseshas to be revised annually. Learning support and administrationare also high cost factors at UT, for the University’s nationwideoperations in these two categories cover expenses throughoutIndonesia, including those managed by its 36 regional offices.The final breakdown of UT’s annual budget is shown inTable 2.3. While changes in the individual cost categories occurfrom year to year, the 2006 breakdown was typical.Table 2.3 Overall budget breakdown in percentagesCategoryCapitalFixedRecurrent Variable TotalCourse development 3.97 – 11.27 15.29Learning support 0.51 0.95 17.14 17.28Evaluation 1.07 0.56 3.98 5.27Research and development 2.56 0.46 – 3.02General administration 0.54 6.31 6.12 14.29Academic administration – 2.23 0.18 2.43HR and HRD – 31.44 – 31.44Maintenance and utilities – 3.03 0.45 3.74Building and equipment 7.24 – – 7.24TOTAL 15.88 44.9860.8639.14 100Source: Universitas Terbuka internal data (2006).In relation to the specific media of ODL, costs can be classifiedinto three types: production, distribution and reception. Whilespecific educational contexts may involve unique cost structures,Bates (1990, 1995) indicated that the typical costs of any given educationaltechnology or medium are influenced by:• fixed costs (that is, those that do not relate to levels of production,utilisation or overheads);• production and delivery costs;• the amount (volume) of materials produced;