IGNOU to strengthen student support services

The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) Sunday said it will focus on strengthening support services for students.

"Effective student-support services is an important pre-requisite for the success of any educational intervention," Vice Chancellor M. Aslam said.

"We at IGNOU are working out strategies to improve the completion rate, reduce the drop-out rate, provide sustainable quality education," he said.

As part of the plan, all study and regional centres will be equipped with adequate information and communication technology equipment to connect them with the headquarters for prompt data transmission and retrieval.

"The information sharing and redressal of learner difficulties provide an opportunity for greater interaction with learners, on-time distribution of material and declaration of results, carrying out empirical research studies on learner performance and experiences, and regularly monitor the quality of support services," Aslam added.

The university also plans to strengthen the regional services network across India, especially in the universities in the northeast, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Rajasthan and low-literacy regions.

IGNOU is the world's largest open university system with a pan-India and international reach with flexible entry qualifications and a wide range of academic programmes at affordable cost.