27th Convocation - Press Release
16 April, 2014
Delivering the 27th Convocation address of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) Shri Ashok Thakur, Secretary (Higher Education), MHRD, who was the Chief Guest announced “Our Ministry through its 1 billion $ National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology [NMEICT] will be engaging IGNOU more and more not only on matters related to connectivity and outreach but also content development and innovation.”
The Secretary (Higher Education) stated that “it is a matter of pride that today IGNOU has emerged as a system leader in open and distance learning - the world’s largest Open University system. The size of its operations is impressive. We expect IGNOU to play a significant role in initiating vocational and skill development programmes.” However, he also underlined that IGNOU should take lead in putting in place Accreditation parameters for ODL system in India.
The Secretary (Higher Education) said that “the Indian higher education scenario encompasses a complex, pluralistic reality. Our workforce needs to constantly increase the knowledge base, to go through a process of skilling and re-skilling, inventing and re-inventing themselves as they adapt to the constantly changing world of work. We need to view the newer learning environments, tools and processes as allies in our journey towards ‘education beyond borders’.” The Chief Guest congratulated Prof. M. Aslam VC and IGNOU community to take IGNOU to new heights.
Dr. Vijitha Nanayakkara, Vice Chancellor, the Open University of Sri Lanka, who was Guest of Honour at the Convocation stressed that Universities should give a far more prominent role to human values and should include philosophy of science, of arts, of politics, of engineering etc in the curriculum.
Dr. Vijitha emphasized that Higher education is a very complex endeavour. It is not the perfect end result of learning process. These days, higher education is not a perfect recipe for good citizency also.
He concluded by saying, “Consortiums, coalitions, collaborations are becoming even more popular in a globalized environment and it is high time to set up a coalition of Asian/South Asian open universities with the aim of working together to enhance and improve the higher educational facilities in the region.”
Prof. M.Aslam, VC IGNOU on this occasion said that we dedicate ourselves to focus on increasing access, equity and quality. Although expansion of activities of the University is an achievement in itself, it is equally important to ensure that we consolidate our efforts and design, develop and deliver ‘quality higher education’. It is only the quality of our educational interventions that will help us to make our presence felt nationally and internationally. At the same time a student has to be the main focus of our attention and every employee of the University including teachers, academics, technical and administrative staff both at the headquarters and spread across the country through Regional Centres have to play an important role in achieving this. With its basic motto to empower the disadvantaged and marginalized through development of relevant skills and knowledge, the University has emerged as the leader of the ODL system and other institutions working in the field are drawing inputs from its best practices. He further stated that in this 27th Convocation, we are granting formal recognition to an impressive 2,38,276 learners who have successfully earned degrees and diplomas.
The Convocation was simultaneously held at 53 Regional Centres across the country.
