Indira Gandhi National Open University
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|Indira Gandhi National Open University|
|इंदिरा गाँधी राष्ट्रीय मुक्त विश्वविद्यालय|
Logo of IGNOU
|Motto||The People's University|
|Type||Public, Central University|
|Chancellor||President of India (Pranab Mukherjee)|
|Vice-Chancellor||Prof. Muhammad Aslam|
|Registrar||Udai Singh Tolia|
|Admin. staff||1,462 (incl. faculty)|
|Students||3.5 million (2010)|
|Location||Maidan Ghari, Delhi, India|
|Campus||Distance / Regular / Online|
|Colors||Blue and White|
|Affiliations||UGC, AICTE, COL, DEC, AIU, UNESCO|
The Indira Gandhi National Open University (Hindi: इंदिरा गाँधी राष्ट्रीय मुक्त विश्वविद्यालय), known as IGNOU, is a distance learning national university located in IGNOU road, Maidan Garhi, New Delhi, India. Named after former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi, the university was established in 1985 with a budget of 20 billion (20 billion Indian rupees), when the Parliament of India passed the Indira Gandhi National Open University Act, 1985 (IGNOU Act 1985). IGNOU is run by the central government of India.
IGNOU, the largest university in the world with 3,500,000 students, was founded to impart education by means of distance and open education, provide higher education opportunities particularly to the disadvantaged segments of society, encourage, coordinate and set standards for distance and open education in India and strengthen the human resources of India through education. Apart from teaching and research, extension and training form the mainstay of its academic activities. It also acts as a national resource centre, and serves to promote and maintain standards of distance education in India. IGNOU hosts the Secretariats of the SAARC Consortium on Open and Distance Learning (SACODiL) and the Global Mega Universities Network (GMUNET) initially supported by UNESCO.
IGNOU has started a decentralisation process by setting up five zones, viz, north, south, east, west and north east. The first of the regional headquarters, catering to four southern states, Pondicherry, Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep, is being set up in the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala.
In 1970 (International Education Year), the Ministry of Education and Social Welfare in collaboration with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the UGC and the Indian National Commission for cooperation with UNESCO, organised a seminar on 'Open University'. The seminar recommended the establishment of an open university in India on an experimental basis. The government of India appointed an eight-member working group on open university in 1974. The leading role was given to G. Parthasarathi, the then Vice-Chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University.
The working group recommended establishing an open university by an act of parliament as early as possible. The university should have jurisdiction over the entire country so that, when it is fully developed, any student even in the remotest corner of the country can have access to its instruction and degrees (Working Group Report, 1974).
The working group suggested several measures to be followed in instructional and management processes of the open university which include: admission procedure, age relaxation, preparation of reading materials, setting up of core group scholars in different fields, setting up of study centres, vehicle of curricular programmes, live contact with teachers, and so on. On the basis of the recommendations of the working group, the Union Government prepared a draft bill for the establishment of a National Open University, but due to some reasons the progress was delayed.
In 1985, the Union Government made a policy statement for establishment of a national open university. A Committee was constituted by the Ministry of Education to chalk out the plan of action of the national Open University. On the basis of the report of the Committee, the Union Government introduced a Bill in the Parliament. In August 1985, both the Houses of the Parliament passed the Bill. Subsequently, the National Open University came into existence on 20 September 1985. It was named after late prime minister Indira Gandhi. The Indira Gandhi National Open University (established by the Act of Parliament) is responsible for introducing and promoting distance education at the university level, and for coordinating, determining and maintaining standards in such systems functioning in the country.
In 1989, the first Convocation was held and more than 1,000 students graduated and were awarded their diplomas. IGNOU audio-video courses were first broadcasted by radio and television in 1990 and IGNOU awarded degrees received full recognition by the University Grants Commission in 1992 as being equivalent to those of other universities in the country.
IGNOU currently serves approximately 3.5 million students in India, the headquarters, and 40 other countries abroad. These are UAE, UK, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Mauritius, Maldives, Ethiopia, Namibia, Kenya, Myanmar, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Fiji, France, Ethiopia, Ghana, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Madagascar, Liberia, West Indies, Samoa, Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, Nigeria, Mongolia, Zambia.
It has 21 schools and a network of 59 regional centres, 7 sub-regional centres, 2,600 study centres, and 52 overseas centres. Approximately 20% of all students enrolled in higher education in India are enrolled with IGNOU. IGNOU offers 175 academic programs comprising 1100 courses at certificate, diploma and degree levels. It also offers a number of non-accredited extension and skill-oriented programs through the twenty-one schools:
The Indira Gandhi National Open University has the following Eleven Divisions to take care of various activities.
|Academic and Coordination Division||MSS Raju|
|Administrative Division||Kumar Agrwal|
|Construction and Maintenance||Sudheer Reddy|
|Computer Division||Srinivas Agrawal|
|International Division||Silima Nanda|
|Finance and Accounts Division||Manju Verma|
|Library and Documentation Division||Sudhir K. Arora|
|Material Production and Distribution||Dr. R. R. Rausaria|
|Planning and Development Division||Kalpna Mishra|
|Regional Services Division||Dr. Srikant Mohapatra|
|Student Registration and Evaluation||Pushplata Tripathi (Evaluation)
K. Laxman (Registration)
Research Unit 
The Research Unit has been established at the Indira Gandhi National Open University vide notification dated 6 October 2008. Prior to that, research-related activities were looked after by the Academic Coordination Division. The Unit has been established with the following objectives:
- To conduct Research Council and Research Council’s Standing Committee meetings for developing policies and frameworks for conduct of research activities.
- To register and monitor all full-time and part-time MPhil and PhD candidates.
- To engage Research Teaching Assistants under IGNOU-DEC RTA Scheme for conduct of research and teaching.
- To conduct workshops/seminars on research methodology for full-time and part-time research candidates.
- To facilitate systemic/discipline based research in the University.
A meeting was held on 27 April 2009 with all Directors of Schools and Heads of Divisions, Centres, Units and Institutions, in which the Vice Chancellor informed that the Research Unit will function as a single point contact with the support of Schools, Institutes, Centres and Units in all research- related activities. The Research Unit will perform the following accordingly:
- Plan and conduct Research Council and RCSC meetings for developing policy frameworks for conducting research activities and approving PhD and MPhil candidates for provisional registration.
- Prepare policy frameworks and guidelines for MPhil and PhD programs, in particular, and research-related activities, in general.
- Prepare guidelines and prospectus for MPhil and PhD programs.
- Receive and process full-time and part-time PhD applications, including international students, registering full-time and part-time MPhil and PhD candidates, and maintain their progress.
- Notify PhD and MPhil students of registration and their admission in the PhD and MPhil programs.
- Conduct entrance examinations and term-end examinations for MPhil programs and course work under PhD programs with the support of schools, centres, and institutions of the University.
|1.||School of Management Studies(SOMS)
|2.||School of Social Science(SOSS)
|3.||School of Continuing Education (SOCE)
|4.||School of Gender and Development Studies (SOGDS)
|5.||School of Agriculture (SOA)
|6.||School of Sciences (SOS)
|7.||School of Inter-disciplinary and Trans-disciplinary (SOITS)
|8.||School of Vocational Education and Training (SOVET)
|9.||School of Foreign Languages (SOFL)
|10.||National Centre for Disability Studies (NCDS)
|11.||Staff Training and Research Institute of Distance Education (STRIDE)
|12.||School of Translation Studies and Training (SOTST)
|13.||School of Humanities(SOH)
|14.||School of Computer and Information Sciences (SOCIS)
|15.||School of Law (SOL)
|16.||School of Engineering & Technology (SOET)
|17.||School of Tourism and Hospitality Service Sectoral Management (SOTHSSM)
|18.||School of Social Work (SOSW)
|19.||School of Journalism and New Media Studies (SOJNMS)
|20.||School of Health Sciences (SOHS)
|21.||School of Extension and Development Studies (SOEDS)
Institutes, cells, centres, regional centres, and consortia 
|Advance Centre for Informatics and Innovative Learning||K Subramanian|
|Distance Education Council||Dr. Nalini A. Lele|
|Electronic Media Production Center||K Ravi Kanth|
|National Centre for Innovations in Distance Education||M Aslam|
|Inter-University Consortium For Technology-Enabled Flexible Education & Development||Madhu Parhar|
|Centre for Extension Education||M Chandrasekharan Nair|
|Staff Training and Research Institute of Distance Education||Basanti Pradhan|
|National Council for Disability Studies||Hemlata|
S.R. SAMRAJ S.K. Yadav
Accreditation & recognition 
IGNOU is granted the authority to confer degrees by Clause 5(1)(iii) of the IGNOU Act 1985. IGNOU is also recognised as a Central University by the University Grants Commission of India (UGC). The Association of Indian Universities (AIU) recognises IGNOU conferred degrees as on par with the degrees conferred by its members and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) recognises the Master of Computer Applications and Master of Business Administration program of IGNOU.
In 1993, IGNOU was designated by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) as its first Centre of Excellence for Distance Education empowered "to actively participate in Commonwealth co-operative endeavours to identify, nurture, and strengthen open learning institutions throughout the Commonwealth, particularly in the Third World ..".
IGNOU also operates as an accreditor for open university and distance education systems in India through the Distance Education Council (DEC). Authority to do so is granted under Clause 16 and Statute 28 of the IGNOU Act 1985.
Convocations in the past 
|Convocation||Held On||Chief Guest||Designation||Honoris causa Awarded||Number of Degrees/ Diplomas/ Certificates/ Awarded|
|Ist||21 February 1989||Rajiv Gandhi||Prime Minister||Dr. Shridath S. Ramphal, Secretary General, COL||1171|
|IInd||27 April 1991||Dr. S. D. Sharma||Vice President||3807|
|IIIrd||25 April 1992||Arjun Singh||Minister for Human Resource Development||4907|
|IVth||5 May 1993||R. Venkataraman||Former President of India||G. Ram Reddy, Former VC of IGNOU||4444|
|Vth||16 April 1994||James A Maraj||President of COL||James A Maraj, President of COL||7580|
|VIth||06.05.1995||Madhav Rao Scindia||Ministry for Human Resource Development||9246|
|VIIth||11.05.1996||Justice R.N. Mishra||Chairman, National Human Rights Commission||12301|
|VIIIth||08.03.1997||Madhu Dandavate||Deputy chairman, Planning Commission||16149|
|IXth||07.03.1998||Krishna Kanth||Vice President||25080|
|Xth||14 March 1999||Dr. Karan Singh||Member of Parliament||Mahasweta Devi, Eminent Writer & Social Worker||33119|
|XIth||04.03.2000||K. C. Pant||Deputy chairman Planning Commission||V. C. Kulandaiswamy, Former VC of IGNOU||53328|
|XIIth||3 March 2001||M. G. K. Menon||Eminent Scientist||62369|
|XIIIth||21 March 2002||Murali Manohar Joshi||Minister for Human Resource Development||78074|
|XIVth||22 February 2003||Sir John Daniel||Assistant Director General, UNESCO and Former VC of UKOU||
|XVth||21 February 2004||Dr. K. Kasturirangan||Former chairman, ISRO and Former Secretary Department of Space, Government of India, Member of Rajya Sabha||
|XVIth||05.03.2005||Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam||President of India||
|XVIIth||18 February 2006||Dr. Anil Kakodkar||Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India||
|XVIIIth||17 March 2007||Justice K. G. Balakrishnan||Chief Justice of India||
|XIXth||16 February 2008||Dr. Hamid Ansari||Vice- president, Republic of India||
|XXth||28 February 2009||R Natarajan||Former chairman AICTE
Former Director IIT Madras
|XXIst||15 March 2010||S K Joshi||Former Director General CSIR||Gen. Deepak Kapoor||135,000|
Silver Jubilee celebrations 
On the 92nd birth anniversary of Indira Gandhi, IGNOU completed twenty five years of its existence. This event was marked by the inauguration of the year long celebrations by Pratibha Patil at the headquarters of the University. Also present were Kapil Sibal, Minister of Human Resource Development and D Purandareswari, Minister of State, HRD. The inauguration was followed by the 25th Foundation Day Lecture, delivered by Dr. Narendra Jadhav, Member Planning Commission, Government of India.
One of the major activities proposed as part of the Silver Jubilee Year is the organisation of IGNOU Silver Jubilee Lectures, as a monthly event commencing from December 2009. Renowned experts and practitioners from different areas and academic disciplines will be invited to deliver talks, the topics of which broadly fall within the areas of 'inclusion of the excluded' and/or 'education for marginalised'.
Pan Commonwealth Forum 6 : Kochi 
The Sixth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF6) took place on 24–28 November 2010 at Le-Meridien, Cochin Resort & Convention Centre (Kochi, Kerala ), India. The theme of PCF6 was: Access and Success in Learning: Global Development Perspectives
PCF6 as an international forum explores the contribution of open and distance learning to international development goals, by opening up access to learning at every level. The Forum brings together practitioners, researchers, planners and policy makers in the fields of open and distance learning and development from over 70 countries. It provides opportunities to share experience and expertise, and to contribute to future policy and provision. Participants will represent the main Commonwealth, Asia and international institutions and agencies active in the field, including funding bodies and technology providers.
The Commonwealth of Learning's biennial Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning has grown to become a leading international forum on learning and development. PCF6 brought the forum to India for the first time, jointly organised by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), coinciding with the completion of 25 years of IGNOU.
|Honorary Chair||M.S. Swaminathan|
|Co-Chair||Sir John Daniel, president & CEO of The Commonwealth of Learning, Vancouver, Canada|
|Co-Chair||V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor IGNOU, New Delhi, India|
|Programme Chair||P.R. Ramanujam, Director, Academic Programmes Committee, PCF 6|
|Conference Manager||Himar Arjun Singh, PCF6 Secretariat|
Indo-Africa Virtual University 
The Indo-Africa Virtual University is a virtual university that has been announced for Africa by the Indira Gandhi National Open University, with headquarters of the virtual university proposed to be in Ethiopia or Kenya, and an initial cost is estimated at 150 crore ($3.5 million), with an annual cost or 1 billion. It has been reported that it could take between six months and a year to implement, and would fuel demand in Africa for higher studies in Indian institutions.
See also 
- List of universities in India
- Universities and colleges in India
- Education in India
- Education in Delhi
- Distance Education Council
- University Grants Commission (India)
- National Network of Education (6 October 2007). "‘Mobile Study Centres have increased student participation’ – IGNOU VC, Universities News – By". Indiaedunews.net. Retrieved 2011-05-03.
- "» Ignou :: Education, Careers & Professional News". News.education4india.com. Retrieved 2011-05-03.
- "THE INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY ACT, 198". Government of India. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
- "Profile of IGNOU – Preamble". Ignou.ac.in. Retrieved 2011-05-03.
- IGNOU Website: Objectives (URL last accessed on 29 April 2007)
- IGNOU Website: Milestones (URL last accessed on 29 April 2007)
- Newsbytes: IGNOU Launches First Virtual University in India, 6 July 1999 (URL last accessed on 29 April 2007)
- IGNOU Website: IGNOU – A Brief Profile (URL last accessed on 29 April 2007)
- UGC Website: Universities Directory – Indira Gandhi National Open University (URL last accessed on 29 April 2007)
- UGC: UGC Circular No. F1-52/2000 (CPP-II), 5 May 2004
- AIU: AIU Circular No. EV/B(449)/94/176915-177115,January 14, 1994
- AICTE: AICTE/Academic/MOU-DEC/2005, May 13, 2005
- COL Website: IGNOU named "Centre of Excellence", COMLEARN, October 1993 (URL last accessed on 29 April 2007)
- DEC Website: Statutory Authority
- IGNOU to power India-Africa Virtual University – Economic Times
- Indira Gandhi National University – Official website
- IGNOU Regional Centre, Karnal
- Indira Gandhi National University Online Community – Un Official website
- Vedyadhara Open (e) Learning Environment – DEC approved ODTEL framework implementation [A Disruptive Innovation in Open and Distributed Learning]
- Official IGNOU Wiki
- IGNOU Help Books/Guide Books-Bukwit.com