The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has begun the process of relocating its regional centres to ease connectivity issues faced by students and learning centres. "IGNOU is ravamping and relocating its regional centres logically and logistically across the country to reduce connectivity issues," the varsity's Vice Chancellor C Ravindra Kumar said.
The varsity will be moving on from its traditional approach of having a regional centre in each state to strategically relocating its existing 56 regional centres. "Nine regional centres in northeast region would be
untouched. However, centres in southern and northern parts of the country will be relocated to a strategic place," V V Reddy, IGNOU's regional services division director, said.
As part of the overhaul, setting up of a new regional centre in Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh is also in the pipeline with the state government giving its nod. The varsity gets around 9 percent of its total
applicants every year from the northeastern states, whereas enrolments from the entire south India including Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar Islands is the same at 9-10 percent.
"We thought rationalisation of regional centres would help more aspirants opt IGNOU," Reddy said. The varsity receives 40 percent of its enrolments from northern India and 10 to 11 percent from western region
(Maharashtra). A committee, headed by professor Kapil Kumar, has been overseeing the process and the VC will be setting up another committee to analyse its feasibility.
"The entire process of rationalisation will be completed in a year's time," Kumar said. Presently, IGNOU has a total of 56 regional centres across the country and over 3,000 learning centres.