Nasir Yousifi
Srinagar: IGNOU Srinagar is set to start various student friendly initiatives in Kashmir. This was stated by Dr. Afroz Hyder Rizvi during a press brief held at Regional Study Centre Srinagar.Giving details, Dr Rizvi said that Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has started the admission process for its various academic programs for July 2024 admission cycle from 15.05.2024. Presently Term End Examination June 2024 is going on across 35 examination centres established in Govt. Degree Colleges throughout the Kashmir Division including UT of Ladakh in almost 1,83,000 recorded sittings . On the demand of learners one more examination centre at GDC Gurez has been established for the students hailing that area.
The University has also launched a four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP) in alignment with NEP 2020. The university has also got approval from UGC & AICTE for four new MBA programmes; MBA Human Resource Management (MBAHRM), MBA Marketing Management (MBAMM), MBA Finance Management and MBA Operations Management (MBAOM). Besides, the university has already been running MBA in Banking and Finance, MBA (General) in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) mode and MBA (General) in online mode. There is no need to appear in any entrance test to take admission in any of these seven different MBA programmes. Revised programme of Masters of Computer Applications (MCA) has also been launched with the approval from UGC & AICTE and will be now of two years duration. The eligibility for the programme has also been relaxed in terms of having Mathematics as one of the subjects at UG level and there is also no need to appear in any entrance test to take admission in this programme.
At present IGNOU Regional Centre Srinagar is operating practically in every nook and corner of Kashmir through a network of 46 Learner Support Centres, comprising 33 Regular Study Centres (LSCs), 12 Programme Study Centres (PSCs) and 1 Special Study Centre (SSCs). The Regional Centre has established Learner Support Centres (LSCs) in all the districts of its jurisdiction and we are trying to reach the unreached by way of establishing LSCs at sub division and blocks levels. Many new proposals to extend IGNOUs reach to newer areas like IUST, SKUAST-K for Science and Agriculture based academic programmes of the university. Apart from this Regional Centre Srinagar is also an Nodal Regional Centre from which the online counselling is being done for the programmes i.e. Diploma in Urdu Language and BA in applied Urdu and Master of Arts in Urdu through for the students admitted in these programmes throughout the country. Also, Swayam Prabha Channels and Channel Based Counselling (CBC) is an initiative of the Ministry of Education, Government of India to provide 34 High Quality Educational TV Channels through DTH across the length and breadth of the country on a 24×7 basis using GSAT 15 Satellite. IGNOU has been entrusted with the responsibility of National Coordinator for Swayam Prabha Project for four channels (13) which are presently operational with effect from 1st Sept, 2020 after reorganization of earlier five channels. These four channels are broadcasting the recorded videos as well as live telecasting of IGNOU programmes 24×7. The channel-based counselling was initially operationalized at 20 Regional Centers using four channels of SWAYAM PRABHA for the CBCS courses in 13 languages. In 2022, a swayam Prabha studio was set up IGNOU Regional Centre Srinagar and is now providing the channel based counselling in Urdu language for UG programmes on channel no. 13. Since its inception, 249 sessions have been delivered so far through the studio at Regional Centre Srinagar, said Dr. A.H. Rizvi.
e-VidyaBharti Project, under the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), GOI, offers Tele-education services through internet-based web portals. So far, 6 premier Indian HEIs, approved by UGC, are offering online degree/diploma/certificate programmes. The MoUs have been signed with 19 African Countries to participate in the project. Under this initiative, IGNOU is one of the HEIs identified for this project. Regional Centre Srinagar is also one of the Regional Centres of the IGNOU which is now part of this prestigious project of Government of India. The students from 19 African countries under this prestigious project have been allotted to Regional Centre Srinagar for the programmes of Certificate in Food and Nutrition (CFN) and Diploma in Early Child Care and Education (DECE).
Under Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA) we have adopted one village called Leharwalpora District Bandipora and we have organised several sensitization programmes under the cooperation with local administration for the upgradation of their livelihood. SATHEE, a collaborative initiative of IIT Kanpur with IGNOU for giving free learning and access platform to prepare them for competitive exams like JEE & NEET. IIT Kanpur has nominated the University for recreation of videos in 12 regional languages for SATHEE.
The Regional Centre Srinagar will be establishing a Help Desk for redressal of the grievances of the learners and other stakeholders under a single window system. The centre is also planning to create an Innovation Club for IGNOU learners for making them entrepreneurs’ and self-sufficient. The centre has also established a disability cell to extend facilities for specially abled learners.
IGNOU has launched several new academic programmes including, M.Sc. programmes from the July 2024 admission cycle. Some of the newly launched programs are M. Sc. Chemistry, M. Sc. Zoology, M. Sc. Applied Chemistry, M.Sc. Physics, M.Sc. Biochemistry, PG Diploma in Disaster Risk Reduction & Management (PGDDRRM), Diploma in Agriculture & Cost Management (DACM), Master of Arts in Applied Urdu (MAAUD), Certificate in Event Management (CEVMT) & Awareness-Cum-Training Package for Parents of Children with Disability-Visual Impairment (NCD-102).
Details of the programs offered by IGNOU are available on the official website www.ignou.ac.in in a common prospectus, which is also available on the IGNOU Regional Centre Srinagar website (rcsrinagar.ignou.ac.in). Desirous students can use the Samarth portal of IGNOU (https://ignouadmission.samartha.edu.in/ ) to take admission in any of the programmes offered by the university for the July 2024 admission cycle. The last date of Fresh Admissions for the July 2024 Session is 30th June 2024. For any query, students can visit IGNOU Regional Centre Srinagar (Saida Kadal Rainawari) or call on 0194-3102402 or send mail to admissionrcsrinagar@ignou.ac.in. Re-registration for the July 2024 admission session is also going on and the last date.