‘IGNOU offers more than 200 programmes all over the country’

Kameshwari Moorty will complete two years as director of the Pune region of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) in July this year. She has taken several initiatives to reach out to more students, including launching three more centres in the Pune region. Plans are also afoot to set up two more regional centres, one in Malegaon and another in Jalna in the near future. A doctorate in home science, Moorty hails from Andhra Pradesh and has been associated with IGNOU since 1989. She tells DNA about the different courses that the Pune centre offers and their popularity among students.

When was IGNOU set up in Pune?
The varsity was established in Pune way back in 1991 and it served as the regional centre for the whole of Maharashtra. However, due to an increase in student strength and workload, two more regional centres were created at Mumbai and Nagpur in 2008. In 2010, 8,743 students enrolled for various programmes in the Pune region. In January this year, 3,719 students took admission. The Pune region has 43 active study centres spread over 15 districts.

Which are the most popular programmes of Ignou at the Pune centre?
The Pune centre has 83 different programmes for graduation,
postgraduation and diploma. However, what we have seen so far is that the most popular ones among the students are BSc
nursing, BEd for special education and regular BEd. These three courses see maximum number of admissions every year. The BEd courses are open only for teachers who are already in service. In all, Ignou offers more than 200 programmes all over the country.

How do people benefit from Ignou programmes?
The biggest benefit is that most of the courses are distance learning ones, except for those that require practical training and compulsory attendance for practical sessions.

IGNOU also provides counselling sessions for each course (subject) of every programme, which are scheduled only during the weekends. So, taking admission to Ignou will not disturb your routine and you will still get a diploma or degree while you study at your leisure. Moreover, you can take admission to any centre or region and take the examination at any centre across the country.
We encourage students to study from anywhere. Ignou is a university for everyone to study anything at anytime and anywhere in the country.

What are the new programmes that IGNOU is offering?
We have started a diploma in medical lab technician course. Moreover, we have also introduced the grade improvement system under which students can reappear for the theory
examination to improve their grades.