Ignou to enter silver jubilee year tomorrow

Launched with a view to promoting education among the disadvantaged groups of society, Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou) will enter its silver jubilee year tomorrow.

Started in 1985 as an alternative to the formal system of education for the disadvantaged groups of society, IGNOU now has 2.5 million students, 61 regional centres, 2,243 learner support centres and presence in 34 countries.

The country's premier open university has 323 academic programmes, 4,500 academic counsellors and over 3,500 courses.

"The University has indeed come a long way since its inception in 1985. It's self-learning and self-instructional materials have earned world-wide recognition. IGNOU has been recognised as Centre of Excellence in Distance Education by the Commonwealth of Learning, Canada," vice chancellor VN Rajasekharan Pillai said in a press statement here.

The University is also providing infrastructure, facilities and Content Management courses to 53 African countries in collaboration with TCIL, as a part of its Pan-African Project.

For learners abroad, the University works through its presence in 34 countries with 53 partner institutions. It also has collaborations with world-class foreign universities in Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia and America.