Indira Gandhi National Open University known as IGNOU, is a Central University located at Maidan Garhi, New Delhi, India. Named after former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi, the university was established in 1985 with a budget of ₹20 million, after the Parliament of India passed the Indira Gandhi National Open University Act, 1985 (IGNOU Act 1985). IGNOU is run by the central government of India, and with total active enrollment of over 4 million students, claims to be the largest university in the world.
IGNOU was founded to serve the Indian population by means of distance and open education, providing higher education opportunities to all segments of society. It also aims to encourage, coordinate and set standards for distance and open education in India, and to strengthen the human resources of India through education. 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.
See: List Of IGNOU Courses / Programmes
IGNOU has the following Eleven Divisions to take care of various activities.
- Academic and Coordination Division
- Administrative Division
- Construction and Maintenance
- Computer Division
- Finance and Accounts Division
- International Division
- Library and Documentation Division
- Material Production and Distribution
- Planning and Development Division
- Regional Services Division
- Student Registration and Evaluation
