IGNOU University The 5th largest University in the World

IGNOU played a vital role in the establishment of Distance Education Council (DEC) which is responsible for setting up standards in Distance Education in India. The Indira Gandhi National Open University known as IGNOU is a national university with its headquarters in New Delhi, Delhi, India. Named after former Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, the university was established in 1985 with a budget of 2000 corer, when the Parliament of India passed the Indira Gandhi National Open University Act, 1985 (IGNOU Act 1985).[3] IGNOU, the largest university in the world with 3,500,000 students was founded to impart education by means of distance and open education, provide higher education opportunities particularly to the disadvantaged segments of society, to encourage, coordinate and set standards for distance and open education in India and strengthen the human resources of India through education.[5] Apart from teaching and research, extension and training form the mainstay of its academic activities. It also acts as a national resource centre, and serves to promote and maintain standards of distance education in India. IGNOU hosts the Secretariats of the SAARC Consortium on Open and Distance Learning (SACODiL) and the Global Mega Universities Network (GMUNET) initially supported by UNESCO. The University also has a considerable international presence, as has been said earlier. It encourages and funds the participation of its faculty in international conferences and seminars, and organizes several international conferences too. There are regular visits of foreign scholars, for delivering lectures or to interact with faculty. The University has given copyright or permission to many foreign institutions to adapt/adopt/use its learning materials, apart from offering its academic programmes across the world through partnership arrangements. Over the years, IGNOU has lived up to the country’s expectations of providing education to the marginalized sections of society. Free of cost education is being provided to all jail inmates across the country. A large number of SC/ST students have been admitted to various programmes of the University.