About Us
Indira Gandhi National Open University in 22 years of its existence, has established itself as one of the world leaders in open and distance learning. Established in 1985 as a major initiative for human resource development in diverse fields, IGNOU now has an enrollment of around 1.5 million students for its 129 academic programmes in 35 countries across the world through eleven school of studies and a network of 59 regional centres, 5 sub-regional Centres, more than 1470 study centres/tele- learning centres and around 37 overseas centres. The university offers 129 Certificate, Diploma, Degree and Doctoral programmes comprising around 1100 courses. Its overall priority is to ensure the right to education for all and to provide new and alternative learning opportunities. Improved and innovative information and communication technologies have opened up new horizons for growth and development. IGNOU is conscious of the growing need for continuous skills up gradation, capacity building, retraining and the importance of life long learning. To meet these new teaching-learning training demands and the development requirements at the regional, national and global levels, IGNOU is introducing new industry-oriented and development-oriented specific courses, based on a credible impact analysis. The university is mandated to :
- widen access by offering high quality innovative and need based programmes at different levels, especially to the disadvantaged segments of society at affordable costs by using a variety of media and technology.
- promote, coordinate and regulate the standards of education offered through open and distance learning in the country.
Salient Features
- National Jurisdiction
- Study programmes suitable to the learner's preference, place and pace
- Need-based academic programmes at affordable costs
- Rigorous course development mechanisms, Modular programmes and credit system
- Multi-lingual and multiple media instructional packages
- Use of latest information and communication technologies for blended learning
The State is situated on the west coast of India between 20-6’ N to 24-42’ North latitude and 68-10’E to 74-28’E longitude. It is bounded by the Arabian Sea in the West, by the States of Rajasthan in the North and North-East, by Madhya Pradesh in the East and by Maharashtra in the South and South East.
The State has an international boundary and has a common border with the Pakistan at the north-western fringe deserts, one north of Kachchh and the other between Kachchh and the mainland Gujarat are saline wastes.
The State has the longest coast-line of India of 16,600 KMs. Gujarat State comprises of 25 districts, sub-divided into 226 talukas, having 18618 villages and 242 towns. Gujarat has geographical area of 1.96 lkh sq. KMs and accounts for 6.19 percent of the total area of the country.
Demography
According to the provisional results of Population Census 2001, the population of Gujarat as on 1st March 2002, stood at 5.06 crore, including the estimated population of earthquake affected areas. The decadal growth rate of 1991-2001 has increased in comparison to 1981-1991 from 21.19 percent to 22.48 percent.
The density of Gujarat was 258 persons per sq. km. in 2001. The literacy rate in the State (excluding children in the age group of 0-6 years) has increased from 61.29 per cent in 1991 to 69.97 per cent in 2001. About 36.67 per cent population of Gujarat resides in urban areas.
Introduction of the the Regional Centre, Ahmedabad
- The Regional Centre of Ahmedabad was established in 1988, inaugurated by the then Governor of Gujarat, Shri R.K. Trivedi.
- Prof.(Dr.) P. K. Mehta was appointed as the Founder Regional Director.
- Started with few Study Centres, today there are 60 Study Centres, Special Study Centres, and Programme Study Centres catering to the educational needs of different groups across the State.
- To achieve the objective of “reach the un-reached”, Regional Centre - Ahmedabad had established Study Centres in Central Jail, Ahmedabad, Blind People Association, Ahmedabad and Tribal Academy, Tejgadh, Dist. Baroda.
- Since its inception in Gujarat, RC has enrolled more than 1.5 lakh Students in various programmes of the University and has the glorious history of having recipients of gold medals in DECE, DCH, BDP, MTM.
- Presently Regional Centre is located on the out-skirts of the city having 5 acres of land allotted by the Government of Gujarat, free of cost to IGNOU. It has the facilities like Edusat, Tele-conferencing, Library, Computer Lab and Gyanvani .
- In the year 2004, one Sub-Regional Centre has been set up at Rajkot to promote and deliver need based programme for the population of Saurashtra and Kutchch. Saurashtra University, Rajkot has given the building at a token rent.
