OPEN TO ALL
IGNOU | ESTABLISHED IN 1985
A NEW BEGINNING
If there are second chances in life, the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) provides them in the field of higher education. In the mid-1980s, then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had envisaged an open university, one without walls. The PM requisitioned the services of educationist G. Rama Reddy who had immense experience with correspondence courses in Andhra Pradesh in the 1960s. The professor became the founder vice-chancellor of IGNOU when the university was set up through an Act of Parliament in 1985. IGNOU had modest beginnings with two diploma courses and 4,528 students in 1987. Today, it has 3 million students, 21 schools of studies, 67 regional centres, 2,667 learner support centres and 29 overseas partner institutions. The open university also offers 228 certificate, diploma, degree, postgraduate and doctoral programmes. It has 810 faculty members, besides the 33,212 academic counsellors from various institutions. The open university concept has spawned 14 other such state-level universities now.
QUALITY IS KEY
IGNOU can perhaps claim credit for being the world’s largest university with its enrolment numbers. And even though the university has its doors open to all, the modest pass percentages show that it doesn’t compromise on quality.