IGNOU finds Prominent Place in the NIRF Innovation Ranking-2023

The Ministry of Education (MoE) announced the results of the NIRF-2023 on June 05, 2023. This time a new category of NIRF-Innovation has been added for all the HEIs. Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) finds place in the NIRF-Innovation Ranking – 2023 among the top 10 Institutions in the category of “Institutes of National Importance and Central Universities” including the technical and non-technical institutes. Overall NIRF-Innovation 2023 ranking of IGNOU lies in the ranking band 151-300 which is a great achievement for an Open and Distance Learning institute to be among the NIRF ranked Higher Education Institutes in the country. Professor Nageshwar Rao, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU congratulated all the students, alumni, faculty and staff of the university for this achievement. He said that the NIRF Innovation Ranking -2023 and recognition for IGNOU comes at a time when the university is actively engaged in I&E activities and mentoring students to establish their own startups, thereby contributing to the Atmanirbhar Bharat Mission of India. He further said that it will further encourage and motivate IGNOU students and faculty towards more innovation and startup initiatives.

The NIRF ranking was carried out on the basis of several parameters, namely, the adoption of innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) policy, performance in I&E activities, teaching and learning courses on I&E, pre-incubation and incubation infrastructure, startup ventures established, collaboration with other incubators, and Intellectual Property (IP) generation and commercialization. Besides adopting the I&E Policy, IGNOU’s participation in the Smart India Hackathon-2022, performance in IIC activities, offering around 84 courses and programmes in the field of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and IPR, there are several factors which have contributed to the NIRF Innovation ranking. These factors include Pre-incubation facilities, Patent Facilitation Unit helping students in getting patents, Virtual Incubator named as NVRIETI, patents granted to IGNOU students and faculty.

IGNOU offers 306 academic programmes out of which around 84 courses are in the field of innovation, entrepreneurship and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).

The University has a dedicated Centre for nurturing innovations of the students and faculty and under the leadership of Vice Chancellor Professor Nageshwar Rao, IGNOU has reached new heights by fostering an innovation culture in the university. Together with the Regional Centres spread across India, and the Schools of Studies, IGNOU has developed an ecosystem of innovation that nurtures the journey from idea to startups by the students. With the adoption of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship policy the university is poised to take great strides in creating innovative learners and faculty members thereby meeting the NEP 2020 mandate. The pre-incubation facility at IGNOU has undertaken several initiatives, such as designing the IGNOU Udyami Portal for identifying potential IGNOU students and alumni, establishing Innovation Clubs at headquarters and Regional Centres, organizing webinars and training programmes on innovation and startups, instituting awards, such as Idea Competition, Student Innovation Award, and Business Plan Competition, and establishing an Idea Bank for students and faculty. These initiatives had a wide reach among the students spread across India and with a diverse demographic profile. Consequently, students who have participated in these activities went on to win national level competitions, such as the Smart India Hackathon, and received financial grants from the MOE and other organisations.

At present about 2000 students and alumni, registered in the IGNOU Udyami Portal, are being provided training and mentoring on a regular basis. IGNOU faculty members, who are Innovation Ambassadors certified by the MOE’s Innovation Cell (MIC), are actively guiding the students towards developing their innovative ideas towards startups. Thus, many students have been motivated to establish their own ventures and they have become not only self-reliant in this process, but have also provided employment to others too. Several students and alumni have obtained patents for their inventions and the Patent Facilitation Unit of the university is guiding more students and alumni to file their IPR applications. More than 10 patents, IPR and Trademarks have been granted to IGNOU students and faculty. IGNOU has collaborated with many other organizations to strengthen the I&E activities and has undergone MOUs. IGNOU faculty is not only mentoring the students, but also other institutes through schemes such as the Mentor-Mentee Scheme and as Innovation Ambassadors.

NIRF Certificate-ARI-U-0104