Page 1 of 13

European Journal of Business &

Social Sciences

Available at https://ejbss.org/

ISSN: 2235-767X

Volume 07 Issue 05

May 2019

Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 1519

IGNOU as a leader in Open and Distance Learning in the state of

Odisha, A Case study of Regional center, Bhubaneswar.

Dr. Bijaya Kumar Sahoo

Assistant Regional Director

IGNOU, Regional Centre, Bhubaneswar

bksahoo@ignou.ac.in

Indira Gandhi Open University (IGNOU), the world’s largest university was established by an

Act of Parliament in 1985 with a view to democratizing higher education in the country. The

University is mandated to widen access by offering high quality innovative and need based

programmes at different levels, especially to the disadvantaged and marginalized segments of

society at affordable costs by using a variety of media and technology. Though the academic

journey of the University was started in 1987 by offering 2 academic programmes with student

strength of 4528, today it serves the educational aspirations of over 3 million learners spread

across the country with the support of twenty one Schools of studies and net work of 67 Regional

centres and more than 3000 study centres.

IGNOU in a relatively short time has made a significant contribution to the areas of higher

education, community education, extension activities and continual professional development, as

world leader in distance education, it has been conferred with the award of Excellence by the

common wealth of learning (COL), Canada. In March, 2013, it was listed 27th in the web metric

ranking of Indian universities, based on the criterion of its presence on the internet. The

University is committed to quality in teaching, research, training and extension activities, and

acts as national resource centre for expertise and infrastructure in the ODL system.

Regional centre, Bhubaneswar was established in 1986 in the first phase of expansion of the

University after its establishment by an Act of Parliament in 1985. This was the only RC

established then in the Eastern Region to cater to the educational needs (especially higher

education) of the people of this part of the country through distance education mode. The RC had

started functioning from a rented building with a small network of 06 study centres located in 06

Page 2 of 13

European Journal of Business &

Social Sciences

Available at https://ejbss.org/

ISSN: 2235-767X

Volume 07 Issue 05

May 2019

Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 1520

district headquarters colleges. It had started offering two programmes namely Diploma in

Management and Diploma in Distance Education in 1987 with an enrolment of 87. As the

University went on expanding its network and offering more academic programmes, the

Regional centre also expanded its network by establishing more Learner Support centres (LSCs)

and offered more academic programmes in the region. By the year 2000, the RC had established

22 study centres covering all the undivided districts of the state with a student enrolment of

around 5000. The year 2000 is considered to be a landmark year in the history of this regional

centre as the RC was shifted to its own campus on the first day of the year that is 01.01.2000.

During the first half of the first decade of the new millennium the university in this region

pervaded beyond the district headquarters to sub-divisions and blocks. Reputed NGOs,

established private colleges etc. were brought into IGNOU fold to serve as LSCs. Translation of

study materials of BPP, CFN and some courses of BA into odia medium has really become

conducive in elevating our enrolment in this region and this commendable step was in 2004-05

and now we are offering as many as 24 courses of BA in Odia medium. Translation of courses

into Odia medium had brought with it a new responsibility of evaluating the TEE answer scripts

which the RC had been doing till the establishment of the Regional Evaluation centre in 2017 in

the RC building. With a view to making the support service robust and enhancing the outreach in

the remotest and not so developed districts (KBK) of the state a sub-regional centre was set up in

2005 in Koraput which was later upgraded to a Regional centre. This period witnessed

exemplary growth (both qualitative and quantitative) of RC in particular and the university in

general in this region. RC-Bhubaneswar was awarded with the first gold medal for best support

services in 2005. Then Regional centre embarked upon consolidating its activities and making its

processes full proof to be a robust organization. Learner support services were opened in jails for

facilitating the studies of the jail inmates. Also centres were opened in rural locations wherever

we had no presence. Emphasis was laid on promoting programmes as regards the teacher

education and health. Initiative is always taken to activate new academic programmes in the

region whenever any new programme is launched by the university to create opportunity for the

desirous learners for acquiring higher qualification and developing skills. Till date 124 academic

programmes have been activated and offered to the learners in this region.

Page 3 of 13

European Journal of Business &

Social Sciences

Available at https://ejbss.org/

ISSN: 2235-767X

Volume 07 Issue 05

May 2019

Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 1521

Time to time the Regional centre organizes some academic activities like Regional seminars,

orientation programmes for the academic counselors, etc. it has been our continuous and constant

endeavour to provide the maximum possible support services to our learners. Our strong belief in

providing prompt service and making ourselves accessible to our learners had brought us the

recognition for the second time by the way of a gold in 2010. Infrastructure development was

undertaken by the way of adding two more floors to the existing building making it a four storied

building. Another four storied building connecting to the main building has been constructed

where we have our warehouse for study materials. A Regional evaluation centre has also been

established in the Regional centre building in 2017 optimally using the space available in the RC.

From 87 students and LSCs in 1987 to more than 32000 enrolments and 89 LSCs (except RC,

Koraput) by the end of 2018 bears the testimony of its growth in the region.

Regional centre, Bhubaneswar is engaged in various activities.

Achievements –

 Continuous increase in student enrolment: The enrolment of the Regional centre has been

steadily increasing over the years. Now it has risen to 32709 in 2016

 Translation of study materials into Odia: The study materials of BPP, CFN, CIG, and 25

courses of BA Programme have been translated and offered in Odia.

 Extension of outreach to all districts: study centres have been established in all the

districts under the region.

 Reimbursement of fee to SC/ST Students: Regional centre has been using SMS services

and letters to encourage the learners of SC/ST communities to take advantage of the fee

reimbursement facility offered by both the MHRD sponsored fund (SCSP/TSP grants)

and department of social welfare, Government of Odisha. About 2000 students (1776)

have been benefitted from both the schemes.

 Evaluation of 30000 Odia Answer scripts in a year: The RC has been handling the

additional responsibility of evaluating more than 30,000 answer scripts of different

courses of BA, CFN and CIG offered in Odia medium for last 10 years till the

establishment of REC in May, 2017.