Going places with IGNOU

The open university is now providing globally certifiable skills to workers in many sectors.

Indira Gandhi, former Prime Minister, once said: “Education is the spirit of enquiry, the ability to keep one’s mind and heart open to beauty and goodness, indeed all that surrounds us, to be able to think and judge for oneself. Education should inculcate a life-long habit of learning. And today, this is all the more necessary because the corpus of knowledge is increasing at a tremendous pace, often making what one has learnt obsolete.”

The 11th Plan has proposed an unprecedented ten-fold increase in outlay for higher education. The current plan seeks to achieve the ambitious target of increasing the higher education access rate to 15 per cent by 2012 from the current 10 per cent.

V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, vice-chancellor of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), speaking on the sidelines of the CII-National Summit on Quality Education in Bangalore, said that Open and Distance Learning has been recognised and accepted as an important mode for achieving many of these targets. Conventional teaching-learning methods are being effectively supplemented with Information and Communication Technology and satellite-based teaching-learning systems all over the world. “The open education system in the country, comprising IGNOU, 13 State Open Universities, over 150 distance education institutes in conventional universities, the National Institute of Open Schooling with a country-wide network of open school units and a Distance Education Council at the national level, has significant pedagogical, developmental, organisational and economic implications,” he said.

Enrolment up

Over the past 22 years, IGNOU has played an important role in the qualitative and quantitative expansion of the higher education system. In 2007, IGNOU’s fresh annual enrolment crossed five lakh and the cumulative student strength was about 1.8 million. “This amounts to about 15 per cent of the total student population in the universities in the country. About 300 new study centres and eight more regional centres of the university were started in 2007,” he said.

Dr. Pillai also said that several measures have been taken in 2007 to strengthen the learner support systems. To ensure minimum necessary infrastructure, steps have been taken to provide broadband connectivity to all the study centres.

He said that IGNOU’s academic programmes and courses, in content, structure, design and delivery, address the varying needs of a heterogeneous and diverse set of learners. The variety of programmes reflects the local and global concerns of contemporary development. Several new courses have been introduced to ensure a greater percentage of the population enter the higher education sector. IGNOU’s unique academic, professional, continuing education, extension and training programmes with an appropriate use of technology for delivery are aimed at achieving the same objective.

One of the major programmes recently introduced was providing globally certifiable skills to those working in different sectors. “Of the total workforce in the country, only five per cent have some sort of diploma/ certificate/ degree, compared to around 50 to 80 per cent in developed countries,” Dr. Pillai said.

Though most of the workforce may have the required knowledge or skills, they lack the requisite certification from a body/institute, which is necessary for any kind of horizontal or vertical mobility.

Teaching modules

“We are entering into memorandums of understanding with leading companies in different sectors. IGNOU and the companies will jointly develop modules on the type of skill and knowledge requirements. The additional skills and knowledge will be provided at the workplace itself,” he said.

IGNOU has tied up with the Indian Retailers’ Association and developed modules for a BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration) degree in retailing. At the end of the first year, candidates will be awarded a certificate, a diploma at the end of the second year and the BBA degree at the end of three years. “One unique feature is that candidates may complete the course at their own pace. This course is open for candidates who have passed 10+2 and are basically from the rural areas.”

Another initiative is the assessment of skill and knowledge of those employed in the traditional knowledge sector such as carpenters, craftsmen, artisans, etc. Australia has already developed a pattern and brings those in the traditional knowledge sector into the educated field. “We have identified certain areas in major vocations and are now trying to develop modules,” Dr. Pillai said.

For example, under the programme, one may assess what level of skill and knowledge carpenters possess, provide them with additional knowledge, certify them and provide them a degree or diploma. “If a carpenter is provided training in computer-aided design, he will be able to market his skills in a much more effective manner. This initiative has been taken up under the School of Vocational Education and Training which was launched with a purpose of bringing them on a par with a trained person.”

Under Corporate Education and Training, IGNOU has tied up with Accenture to provide training for the Business Process Outsourcing sector.

“We have identified 17 areas after looking at the requirements of the corporates and have jointly developed modules. Another sector we are looking at for introducing a similar initiative is insurance.”

IGNOU is also making a foray into paramedical training and has tied up with a group of hospitals. Through the tie-up, it will be providing on-the-job training for the capacity addition of paramedical staff. The modules are being developed in different languages. Multimedia capsules and self-learning materials are congenial and user-friendly.