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History of IGNOU

Indira Gandhi National Open University was established in 1985 to democratize higher education. The aim was to provide cost-effective quality education to large sections of our population including those living in remote and far-flung areas. IGNOU is a pioneer in Distance Education system. It is recipient of the Centre of Excellence award conferred by the Commonwealth of Learning. The University at present offers 125 programmes of study to a cumulative student strength of over 14 lakh making it the largest single University in the world. These programmes are offered in widely diverse areas and at different levels: Doctorate, Masters and Bachelors degrees, diplomas and certificates. The University has established a network of 64 Regional Centres (RCs) and Sub-Regional Centres(SRCs) and more than 1400 Study Centres (SCs) allover the country to provide easy access and effective support services to the learners. The University has particular focus on educationally backward regions. Educational and training initiatives in the North-East (NE) states and Sikkim are part of this initiative. Besides these, the University has established sub-Regional Centres at Madurai, Rajkot, Siliguri, Darbhanga, Aligarh and Varanasi to cater to the needs of students in remote areas, which are predominantly inhabited by educationally ackward, economically poor people and socially excluded populations.

The University has extended its outreach beyond the borders of the country also and as of now IGNOU offers programmes in more than 35 countries including China.

The academic programmes of the University have multiple-media support. The University has state of art facilities for the production of audio/video programmes and their dissemination through radio and television. The University also uses interactive radio counseling as well as tele-conferencing to provide interactivity in the teaching-learning process. IGNOU has been identified as the nodal agency for running a 24-hour educational TV channel - Gyan Darshan - in collaboration with other institutions of higher learning. Gyan Vani is emerging as a massive radio cooperative network of several FM radio Stations exclusively devoted to education with IGNOU as nodal agency.

The University is all set to create a movement in education with the launch of an exclusive Educational Satellite EDUSAT, as it supports two way video conferencing. To know more about IGNOU COURSES, ADMISSION, ASSIGNMENTS, PROJECTS etc. click on the links on the left of the page OR visit IGNOU official website.