There are four Masters degree programmes on offer namely, M.Ed. in Mental Retardation, M.Ed. in Visual Impairment, M.Ed. in Hearing Impairment and M.Ed. in Learning Disability while there are three Bachelor degree programmes on offer namely, B.Ed. in Mental Retardation, B.Ed. in Visual Impairment and B.Ed. in Hearing Impairment.

The eligibility for M.Ed. in Special Education programmes is B.Ed. in Special Education (BEDSE) or equivalent degree recognized by the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) with minimum 50% marks and two years of teaching/ professional experience after completion of BEDSE or equivalent degree; while that for the BEDSE programmes is Bachelor’s degree from any recognized university.

The candidates shall be selected on the basis of the entrance test and weightage as applicable and reservation policy of Government of India norms. Student handbook and prospectus can be obtained from the headquarters and all the regional centers of the university by sending a sum of Rs.550 through a demand draft in favour of IGNOU payable at New Delhi or city of the concerned regional center or by paying Rs.500 in cash at the sale counters. Last date for receipt of request of prospectus by post is December 23, 2011.

Application form and prospectus can also be downloaded from the website www.ignou.ac.in and sent along with a draft for Rs.550 in favour of IGNOU payable at New Delhi by registered/ speed post to Registrar (SED), IGNOU Maidan Garhi. Prospectus will be sent to such applicants after receipt of Rs.550.

Applications are invited for Diploma Programmes, which consist of Post-Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDIM), Diploma in Management (DIM), Post-Graduate Diploma in Marketing Management(PGDMM), Post Graduate Diploma in Operations Management (PGDOM), Post-Graduate Diploma inFinancial Management (PGDFM) and Post GraduateDiploma in Human Resource Management (PGDHRM).

One Degree Programme, Master of Business Administration (MBA) has also been offered.

In case of general category, candidates with 50% marks in graduation are eligible to apply. The candidates from reserved category are eligible to appear with 45% marks in graduation.

Besides, candidates holding Bachelor’s Degree with three years of managerial/ professional/ supervisory experience, Masters or Professional Degree in any subject can also apply.

Non-Graduate candidates (10+2 or equivalent) with six years of relevant experience can appear for Diploma in Management.

Those who have successfully cleared CAT, MAT or any other State-level tests are not required to appear for OPENMAT. The University will decide the cut-off percentage for these candidates.

The last date of submission of application forms is December 31, 2012.

Aspirants can apply for its various masters, bachelors, diplomas, certificates, awareness, appreciation and non-credit programmes, an official said.

“The prospectus and application form for January 2012 session is available at IGNOU and all its regional centres including on websitewww.ignou.ac.in,” said the official.

“Filled in forms can be submitted along with an amount of Rs. 100 in addition to the programme fee in the form of a demand draft or cash order in favour of IGNOU,” added the official.

The last date for submission of filled application forms is Nov 30. A late fee of Rs.200 will be imposed between Dec 1 and 15.

The certificate programme in Value Education (CPVE) has been designed to inculcate the importance of value education in the teaching- learning process among teachers, graduates, NGO’s and professionals, said the statement.

“The target group for the course is teachers (mostly elementary) for integrating values in their transactional process of teaching and learning,” said the programme coordinator, Silima Nanda.

According to the University, CPVE will be offered from January 2012 in the distance learning mode.

Starting with two courses and 4,000 students in 1985, IGNOU has evolved into one of the world’s largest varsities by offering about 450 programmes and has currently over three million students on its rolls.

The last date for submitting applications is Oct 15.

The ‘Appreciation Programme on Sustainable Management of Ganga’ aims to create awareness about the Ganga and its connection with Indian civilization and culture.

The ‘Leadership Programme on Nutrition Security and Sustainable Development’ intends to sensitise policy and programme leaders to rely more on evidence-based programming for achieving targets.

The ‘Leadership Programme on Himalayan Ecosystems’ is based on practicalexercises, case studies and field visits.

“Once registered, learners will have access to personalized space, which includes self-instructional study material, related audio and video, slides and self-checkexercises on one platform,” said the statement.

“This could be a model for many countries in terms of size and services. We are getting empowered by providing such capacity and showing that a university too can undergo such collaborations,”IGNOU vice-chancellor V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai said.

According to Air Vice-Marshal Satyendra Kumar, the initiative will reach out to airmen posted anywhere in the country, where they can register themselves for an associate degree online.

According to the university, 10 airmen registered themselves in-person after the launch ceremony.

Project Akashdeep was launched in December 2010. Under it, all serving airmen can obtain bachelor’s degrees within eight to 13 years of their service.

The practical aspect would cover the internship in observation homes, child welfare committees and NGOs. NEW DELHI: IGNOU on Thursday announced it will soon launch a one-year diploma course on child rights. The oneyear diploma course, to be started by IGNOU’s School of Law (SOL) in collaboration with child rights NGO Prayas, is designed to offer specialised training on issues of the country’s juvenile justice system and child protection, IGNOU, said.

The practical aspect would cover the internship in observation homes, child welfare committees and NGOs.

The School of Health Sciences (SOHS) of Ignou will be launching a medical cell wherein a series of post graduate medical programmes having national and social relevance shall be launched, it said.

“The school is initiating the planning and development of three full-time PG medical programmes of two year duration each. These arePost Graduate Diploma in Anaesthesia, Post Graduate Diploma in Radio-Diagnosis and Post Graduate Diploma in Critical Care Medicine for those with MBBS degree,” the statement said.

“These programmes aim of solving the need of trained doctors in the above specialties,” it said.

According to Unesco, Ignou is the world’s largest open university, with its student base extending to three million.

This convocation onwards, the University has decided to institute six new awards for on-campus students pursuing Masters in Social Work (MSW).

The School of Social Work (SOSW) of IGNOU in collaboration with the apex body of Catholics in the country, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) will give away annual cash awards amounting to Rs.5000 each for the following categories:

• Best Field worker (Female) called the Bharat Ratna Acharya Vinoba Bhave Best Field Worker award,
• Best Field Worker (Male) called the Padma Vibhushan Baba Amte Best Field Worker award,
• Best Social Worker (Male) called the Dr. Clifford Manshardt Award,
• Best Social Worker (female) called the Sr. Maria Faustina Pereira award and
• Best Student award called the Cardinal Varkey Vithyathil Best Student Award.

These awards will be given every year to the MSW fourth semester on-campus students both at IGNOU headquarters and Regional Centre, Cochin.
A gold medalist from MSW in distance mode shall also be chosen to be conferred Bharat Ratna Mother Teresa Award with cash prize of Rs.10,000 annually.

“How to create/develop online courses” workshop was attended by 21 faculty members from various universities, including Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, Anna University, Chennai, and Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Maharashtra.

“Open universities in the world and other traditional universities are developing online courses to enhance the reach of their study materials through videos, web content, internet and satellite,” an IGNOU official said.

“We understand that the teachers should be prepared to meet the challenges of the future and so the workshop was organised,” added the official.

The training included explaining and describing the instructional design for online courses, highlighting tools used to create such courses and so on.

“There should be judicious use of multimedia, activities and interactivity among learners for effective online learning,” said Madhu Parhar, director, inter-university consortium, IGNOU.

Uma Kanjilal, director of school of social sciences, IGNOU, elaborated upon information and communication technology initiatives at eGyanKosh – a national repository initiated with a mandate to store, index, preserve, distribute and share the digital learning resources.

“eGyanKosh has open access and has emerged as one of the world’s largest educational resource repositories,” said Kanjilal.

According to her, over 95 percent of IGNOU’s self-instructional print material has been digitised and uploaded on the repository; 1,600 video programmes on YouTube and virtual classes are initiatives by the varsity towards a flexible learning environment.

Meanwhile, the participants were all praise for the workshop and credited IGNOU for providing a detailed understanding.

“Being a technical person I know that we have to design a system from scratch but I am very thankful to IGNOU team for explaining everything in detail,” said Amit Agashe from Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune.