Meghalaya Governor attends 36th convocation of IGNOU

The Convocation was part of the main function conducted at IGNOU Headquarters in New Delhi and also simultaneously in all 33 Regional Centers across the country.

Delivering the Convocation Address, Phagu Chauhan lauded the Indira Gandhi National Open University for taking the national responsibility of promoting and setting benchmarks for Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and online education (OL) systems in India and the world.

"IGNOU, which is known to be the World's largest open University with above 3 million enrolments of students in different IGNOU programmes, has made significant contributions to democratizing Higher Education in the country by providing access to a large number of aspirants through the Open & Distance mode and through online mode," he added.

Stressing the need for shifting from the conventional degree to Skill Development, Employability, Entrepreneurship and Community Development programs, the Governor reiterated the importance for every University in India to make its academic programmes more futuristic and need-oriented.

"The NEP puts a greater emphasis on restructuring academic programmes to make them multidisciplinary and holistic. Academic programmes should focus not only on creating new knowledge but also acquiring skills required for the job market," the Meghalaya Governor said.

The Governor further stated that to fulfil India's mission and goal set by NEP 2020, there is a need of the hour to make a collaborative framework between Central and State government institutes to identify skill-based bridge courses in the emerging area of professional/vocational programmes.

Established in April 1988, IGNOU Regional Centre Shillong at present has 21 Learner Support Services covering 10 districts of Meghalaya.

1319 learners were conferred Degrees/ Diplomas/ certificates for this 36th Convocation under the Shillong Regional Centre. (ANI)