digitalLEARNING-May-2011-[26-27]-Advt-Ignou

INDIRA GANDHI NATI Maidan Garhi, New Delhi

Information on IGNOU • In just four years, IGNOU has, in the face of stiff competition from both public and private institutions almost trebled the number of students on its rolls from 1.1 million to about 3.5 million.

• Has contributed over 11 lakh professionals to the country’s talent pool so far since its inception in 1985 – thus working towards its twin goals in the Decade of Innovation – providing Inclusive Growth and enhancing Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER).

• Reached out to the unreached and the marginalised by offering a slew of programmes for jail inmates sex workers, differentlyabled • Provided an alternative educational system by setting up 517 Community Colleges across the country • Reached out to the Armed Forces with initiatives like Gyan Deep with the Indian Army and Akashdeep with the Indian Air Force • Ushered in a new era of multimedia and ICT-enabled education through initiatives like Edusat, FlexiLearn and the newly launched website on IT Mass Literacy Programme of the Department of Information Technology (DIT), Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Govt. of India • Producing industry-ready managers for several sectors by partnering with public and private sector institutions • Establishing a global educational footprint with over 42,000 students enrolled at its 67 Overseas Study Centres in over 40 countries • Diversifying educational delivery through on-campus, online and distance learning modes

NEW PARADIGMS AND INITIATIVES The University continues to make path-breaking advances in challenging existing modes of delivery and ushering in innovative combinations. Major achievements include:

Expansion in On-Campus Programmes Several new programmes have been added to the bouquet of on-cam-

pus teaching. Three new programmes have been launched by the Economics faculty at the postgraduate level. M.Phil. and Ph.D. programmes in Economics are also on offer in the on-campus mode.

The School of Performing and Visual Arts has launched four new on- campus and fulltime Master’s Degree Programmes in Performing and Visual Arts. These programmes include: Master of Performing Arts – Hindustani Classical Music (MPA – HVM); Master of Performing Arts – Bharatanatyam (MPA – BN); Master of Performing Arts – Theatre Arts (MPA-THA); Master of Fine Arts – Painting (MFAP).

The School of Gender and Development Studies has launched a new Master’s in Women’s and Gender Studies from July 2010.

Reaching the Unreached: Major Strides through Community Colleges The Community College Scheme of IGNOU has been extended to the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy after a very fruitful and successful collaboration with the Indian Army was initiated. The Gyan Deep project with the Indian Army was launched by the

ONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY – 110068, India, www.ignou.ac.in President of India and has achieved remarkable success.

An estimated 1.25 lakh Indian soldiers are now undergoing education in IGNOU community colleges.

So far 517 Community Colleges have got registered with IGNOU. The total number of students who have taken admission so far is 43000.

The total number of programmes offered through Community Colleges is 1615.

Multimodal Education Delivery: Advances in the Convergence Scheme The Convergence Scheme optimizes use of both conventional and ODL systems. As many as 464 partner institutions are participating in the Scheme. In the year under report, 35 new Partner Institutions were added under the Convergence Scheme. The number of learners added in 2010 is an unprecedented 41,986. The total number of students under this scheme is now 1,01,755.

programme in Functional English through Nokiaphone’s Ove Life Tools primarily using SMS. The initiative is to start initially in six districts of Maharashtra and will be launched nation-wide after a review.

IGNOU has already initiated a number of moves in the area of IT research through its Research and Teaching Assistantship (RTA) scheme and ODTEL.

On-Demand examinations In addition to the six monthly term -end examination held conventionally, IGNOU also provides the facility of On-Demand Examination in 135 courses of different programmes through 15 Regional Centres of IGNOU. NCIDE has also developed a prototype system of On-line examination and evaluation aiming at “instant testing- instant result”.

Dimensions of Technology Use and Upgradation IGNOU offers state-of-the-art education facilities to its students. Today the university’s educational programmes reach over 10 million homes through the DTH and Edusat.

The recent innovative moves such as mobile telephony, online admission to certification, on-demand examination and all-time admission have created new directions to democratize higher education and research. In the recent past a firm step has been taken to ensure quality research and documentation through digitization of contents and repositories.

IGNOU launched a SMS facility to benefit students studying in the Madurai Regional Centre. Students across 17 districts are able to receive periodical information from the University regarding fee details, last date for payment, classes, special assignments and programmes with roll out of new services.

In order to effectively use modern technology in distance education, the University would provide a Certificate

Building learner-friendly services The Student Satisfaction Survey, a first of its kind initiative in the country, enlisted open participation of all students and responses were encouraging. The feedback has helped identify and initiate refinements and corrections in the course curriculum. The Survey is now a mandatory aspect of the academic programmes and will be administered every year.

More Information • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Over 3.5 million Students 21 Schools of Study 12 Divisions 445 Academic Programmes Over 3,500 Courses More than 45,000 Academic Counsellors Over 500 On-Campus Students Over 120 Research Scholars at the Campus Presence in 40 Countries 67 World-wide Partner Institutions 62 Regional Centres More than 3,000 Study Centres Nearly 517 Community Colleges Largest Number of Foreign Students among Indian Universities • Tie-ups with Universities in Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, America...