THE UNIVERSITY

The Indira Gandhi National Open University was established by an Act of Parliament in 1985 to achieve the following objectives:

• Democratising higher education by taking education to the doorsteps of the students

• Providing access to high quality education to all those who seek it, irrespective of age, region, or formal

qualifications

• Offering need-based academic programmes by giving professional and vocational orientation to the courses

• Promoting and developing distance education in India

• Setting and maintaining standards in distance education in the country — as an apex body for the purpose.

Some of the special features of the Open and Distance Education System currently practised by IGNOU are:

• Relaxed entry requirements

• Provision of equal opportunity of admission to people from all over the country

• Provision of learning at one’s own pace, place and time

• Cost-effective and cost-efficient educational operations

• Multi-media approach in the preparation of course packages

• Self-instructional Printed and Audio/Video course materials

• Network of student support services throughout the country

• Face-to-face Counselling and Tele-counselling

• Continuous evaluation through assignments

• Provision of terminal examination two times a year

• Interactive Satellite Aided Communication Network (Teleconferencing)

• Interactive Radio Counselling