IGNOU mulls new initiatives to expand reach

Tuesday April 19, 2011 07:44:54 PM, IANS

New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), the largest open university in the world, has prepared a list of initiatives that could be undertaken in the years to come to enhance its growth and reach, Vice Chancellor V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai said Tuesday.

"Special onsite admission campaigns are in the pipeline. Districts would be assigned to faculty members volunteering to promote IGNOU activities in that area with predefined objectives and accountability parameters," said Pillai.

In addition, learning support mechanisms would be enhanced and contact points for learners would be established, thus increasing the contacts, he added.

According to Pillai, there are over 250,000 public educational and training institutions in the country, all of which can become skill-development centres without affecting the formal teaching and other activities during class hours.

"These can be harnessed to provide skills to the untrained youth of the country. IGNOU with its country-wide network of study centres has the greatest potential in the country to address the issue of skill deficit in Indian youth," he said.

Pillai also explained how the goal could be achieved with the regional and study centres networking with local educational and training institutions for providing modular skills in different trades and vocations.

"Vertically integrated engineering programme, assessment and certification of prior learning, the telecentre movement for skill-upgradation and the collaboration with the rural NGOs are some of the recent IGNOU interventions in the skill development sectors," he added.
 

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