About IGNOU
The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), established by an Act of Parliament in 1985, has continuously striven to build an inclusive knowledge society through inclusive education. It has tried to increase the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) by offering high-quality teaching through the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) mode.
The University began by offering two academic programmes in 1987, i.e., Diploma in Management and Diploma in Distance Education, with a strength of 4,528 students.
Today, it serves the educational aspirations of over 2.7 million students in India and other countries through 21 Schools of Studies and a network of 67 regional centres, around 2,667 learner support centres. The University offers about 228 certificate, diploma, degree and doctoral programmes, with a strength of nearly 283 faculty members and 256 academic staff at the headquarters and regional centres and about 33,212 academic counsellors from conventional institutions of higher learning, professional organisations, and industry among others.
The mandate of the University is to:
Provide access to higher education to all segments of the society;
Offer high-quality, innovative and need-based programmes at different levels, to all those who require them;
Reach out to the disadvantaged by offering programmes in all parts of the country at affordable costs; and
Promote and coordinate the standards of education offered through open and distance learning in the country.
To achieve the twin objectives of widening access for all sections of society and providing continual professional development and training to all sectors of the economy.