The 36th convocation of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) was held today around the country, including at the university’s Shillong regional centre.
Here, Governor Phagu Chauhan was the chief guest on the occasion.
Established in April 1988, IGNOU’s Shillong centre currently has 21 ‘Learner Support Services’ covering 10 districts of Meghalaya. This year there were 1,319 learners conferred with degrees, diplomas or certificates.
Delivering the convocation address, Chauhan lauded IGNOU for taking the responsibility of promoting and setting benchmarks for open and distance learning (ODL) and online education (OL) systems in India and the world.
IGNOU, the world’s largest open university with more than 30 lakh enrolments, has made significant contributions to democratising higher education in the country by providing access to a large number of aspirants through the ODL mode and online, he added.
Stressing on the need for shifting from conventional degrees to skill development, employability, entrepreneurship and community development programmes, the Governor reiterated the importance for every varsity in India to make its academic programmes more futuristic and need-oriented.
“The NEP (National Education Policy) puts a greater emphasis on restructuring academic programmes to make them multidisciplinary and holistic. Academic programmes should focus not only on the creation of new knowledge but also to acquire skills required for the job market,” he said.
The Governor further stated that to fulfill India’s mission and goal set by NEP 2020, there is a need to make a collaborative framework between central and state government institutes to identify skill-based bridge courses in the emerging area of professional and vocational programmes.
