The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) was established by an Act of Parliament in 1985 to achieve the following objectives:

" democratizing higher education by taking it to the doorsteps of the learners

" providing access to high quality education to all those who seek it irrespective of age, region or formal qualifications

" offering need-based academic programmes by giving professional and vocational orientation to the courses

" promoting and developing distance education in India

" setting and maintaining standards in distance education in the country as an apex body for the purpose.

PROMINENT FEATURES

IGNOU has certain unique features such as:

" national jurisdiction

" flexible admission rules

" individualised study: flexibility in terms of place, pace and duration of study

" use of latest information and communication technologies

" nationwide student support services network with 58 Regional Centres, more than 1804 Study Centres / Tele-learning Centres and around 46 overseas centres.

" cost-effective programmes

" modular programmes

" resource sharing, collaboration and networking with conventional Universities, Open Universities and other Institutions/Organisations

" socially and academically relevant programmes based on students' need analysis. At present, the University offers 129 Certificate, Diploma, Degree (Bachelor's and Master's) and Doctoral (Ph.D.) Programmes comprising 1300 courses.

IMPORTANT ACHIEVEMENTS

" Emergence of IGNOU as the largest Open University in the World with 1.8 million (18 lakh) students.

" Establishment of Distance Education Council (DEC) for coordination and determination of standards of Distance Education Systems in the country (1992)

" Recognition as Centre of Excellence in Distance Education by the Commonwealth of Learning (1993)

" Establishment of Staff Training and Research Institute in Distance Education (STRIDE) with support from the Commonwealth of Learning (COL).

" Launching of an IGNOU-ISRO joint channel for organising a one-way video, two-way audio teleconferencing (1993-94).

" Taking IGNOU programmes to West Asian Maldives, Mauritius, Nepal and Seychelles in all to 32 countries.

" Award of Excellence for Distance Education Materials by Commonwealth of Learning (1999).

" Launch of a series of 24 hours Educational Channels 'Gyan Darshan'. IGNOU is the nodal agency for these channels and regular transmissions are done from the studio at EMPC, IGNOU.

" Launch of 'Edusat' videoconferencing channel (2 way video, 2 way audio).

ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES

The University offers a wide range of Programmes both short-term and long-term leading to Certificates, Diplomas, Undergraduate Degrees, Postgraduate Degrees and Doctoral Degrees which are conventional as well as innovative. Most of these programmes have been developed after an initial survey of the demand for such Programmes. They are launched with a view to fulfill the learner's needs for:

" certification,

" improvement of skills,

" acquisition of professional qualifications,

" continuing education and professional development at work place,

" self-enrichment,

" diversification and updation of knowledge.