IGNOU introduces CBCS for Bachelor’s Degree programmes

IGNOU has introduced Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) for its Bachelor’s Degree programmes offered through common prospectus. The CBCS provides learners a flexibility to study subjects/ courses at their own pace; greater choice of interdisciplinary, intra-disciplinary and skill-based courses; and mobility to different institutions for studies.
“For July 2019 session, IGNOU is offering only General Bachelors Degree programme under CBCS with disciplines like Anthropology, Economics, History, Political science, Psychology, Public administration, Sociology, Mathematics, Hindi, Urdu, English and Sanskrit,” Dr Sandeep Gupta, Regional Director Incharge and Dr Asha Upadhyay, Assistant Regional Director and Admission Incharge of Regional Centre Jammu, informed here on Wednesday.
“A learner can choose any two of these twelve disciplines for completing BA programme. Once the two disciplines are chosen in first semester, he/she has to take Core Courses and Discipline Specific Elective Courses from those two Disciplines ‘only’ in all subsequent semesters,” he said.
The University has launched several programmes like Awareness Programme on Goods and Services (GST), Post Graduate Certificate in Climate Change (PGCCC), Post Graduate Diploma in Development Studies (PGDDVS), Certificate Programme in Yoga (CPY) and Certificate in Persian Language (CPEL) which are being introduced from current session.
The University has also developed Online Academic Counsellor portal, which enables the prospective Academic Counsellors to submit their bio-data online and generate empanelment letters online, post approval from the Competent Authority. The bio-data submitted online would be processed at the Regional Centre online which shall be forwarded to the concerned School at New Delhi HQs online for further processing at their end through the portal. Once the credentials of candidate are checked and approved, the empanelment letter can also be generated online.
“Keeping in view the difficulties being faced by the prospective students in registering 

List of Programmes offered by IGNOU's "School of Agriculture"

http://ignou.ac.in/ignou/aboutignou/school/soa/programmes

Doctoral Degree

Ph.D in Dairy Science and Technology (PhDDR)

Doctor of Philosophy in Agriculture Extension (PHDAGE)

PG and Advance Diploma

Post-Graduate Diploma In Plantation Management (PGDPM)

Post-Graduate Diploma in Food Safety and Quality Management (PGDFSQM)

PG and Advance Certificate

Post-Graduate Certificate in Agriculture Policy (PGCAP)

Diploma

Diploma in Dairy Technology (DDT)

Diploma in Value-added Products from Cereals, Pulses and Oilseeds (DPVCPO)

Diploma in Value Added Products from Fruits and Vegetables (DVAPFV)

Diploma in Fish Products Technology (DFPT)

Diploma in Watershed Management (DWM)

Diploma in Meat Technology (DMT)

Certificate

Certificate in Sericulture (CIS)

Certificate in Water Harvesting and Management (CWHM)

Certificate in Poultry Farming (CPF)

Certificate in Bee Keeping (CIB)

Certificate in Organic Farming (COF)

Non-Credit Programmes

Training Programme on Betel Vine for farmers (Two Weeks) (TPBV)

Certificate in Integrated Pest Management Technology in Potato Cultivation (CIPMT)

Awareness Programme on Value Added Products from Fruits and Vegetables (APVPFV)

Awareness Programme on Dairy Farming (APDF)

NCPUL-NIELIT Semester-2 Examination on 29.06.2019 (CABA-MDTP)

NCPUL-NIELIT Examination 29.06.2019 (CABA-MDTP {Semester-1})

Our PhD is not through distance education mode: IGNOU

NAGPUR: Since University Grants Commission (UGC) does not recognize PhD or MPhil done through distance education, some city students expressed concern over open universities continuing to offer both these academic programmes. 

Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou) and Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU) hold entrance exams and/or interviews before selecting candidates for PhD and MPhil. But the UGC ban may not be applicable here because when it comes to PhD, there is nothing ‘open’ about the open universities.

Make SOL affiliated college, says Centre

NEW DELHI: Delhi University has received a letter from the human resource development (HRD) ministry asking it to amend its statutes and make School of Open Learning (SOL) a university-affiliated college.
The letter was sent on February 18 along with another letter from University Grants Commission (UGC) dated January 2018. Once the change is approved by DU’s executive council (EC), SOL’s executive director will be redesignated as a principal. The academic council (AC) is likely to take up the matter on June 22, and following its approval, it will be sent to EC.

The ministry’s letter followed a DU communication for the resolution of the issue of approval of SOL’s teaching and non-teaching positions pending since 2013. DU wrote to the ministry to ensure that SOL gets 100% funds from UGC as a university-maintained college, stated an AC meeting document. This will also help streamline SOL’s admission process.

Janmejoy Khuntia, secretary of SOL’s staff council, however, said that in 1999, the then NDA government had approved DU’s request to convert School of Correspondence Courses and Continuing Education into a department. According to a university document, School of Correspondence was converted into SOL, as a university-maintained constituent college, in 2004. But Khuntia said it was not converted into a department. “Many went to court against this. That case is still on and DU is claiming that 96 positions will be filled up.”

Khuntia alleged that the post of the executive director was created to present SOL as a department. “But UGC doesn’t accept it as a department and doesn’t give it grants. The university and the VC should go by the norms and complete the process of converting it into a department,” he added.

V K Agarwal, the head of DU’s finance committee, has also written to UGC and the vice-chancellor not to go ahead with the change as it will amount to the violation of a presidential order.

Karnataka State Open University

BENGALURU: With the future of over 95,000 students of the Karnataka State Open University (KSOU) still hanging in the balance, a delegation led by Union minister of state for railways Suresh Angadi met UGC chairperson DP Singh on Wednesday and sought for an early solution. 

The recognition of KSOU was withdrawn in 2015, with retrospective effect from 2013. It meant that students who had enrolled in KSOU to graduate in 2013 or after would not get a degree or certificate. Though the recognition of KSOU was restored in 2018, the fate of the students who got enrolled until 2015 remained uncertain.

UGC launches STRIDE to boost research in Humanities

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has launched an initiative to support and foster trans-disciplinary research in Indian institutes and universities. The Scheme for Trans-disciplinary Research for India’s Developing Economy (STRIDE) will fund socially relevant and need-based research projects. The complete details of the scheme will be available on the UGC website on July 8, 2019.

PROJECT-BASED FUNDING

Research proposals under the scheme will be invited online by July 20, 2019 and the funding will be provided after careful evaluation through peer reviews and assessments. “Building a culture of trans-disciplinary research is becoming crucial. It requires investigators to develop concepts and theories that go beyond disciplines. STRIDE is UGC’s flagship scheme to decide the funding for project-based research,” says Bhushan Patwardhan, vice chairman, UGC.

Big budget lift for research eco-system, top universities

Shuriah Niazi and Yojana Sharma  11 July 2019

Research and innovation funding is set to double and there will be significant extra funding for improving ‘world-class’ institutions, under the proposals for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first budget in his second term in office.

A new National Research Foundation (NRF) to fund, coordinate and boost research in science, technology, the humanities and social sciences at universities in India will be allocated central government funds.

The higher education regulatory body the University Grants Commission (UGC) also launched a scheme this week to boost research culture and also cross-disciplinary research, as part of the government’s drive to improve research.

In an indication of the government’s focus on improving research and research governance, the proposed NRF will be a self-governing apex body formed under the chairmanship of the prime minister and with the government’s principal scientific advisor as co-chair. 

It will be funded by a direct transfer of 1% of the central government’s budget estimates every year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on 5 July in her first budget speech. Sitharaman was previously India’s defence minister.

Strengthened research eco-system

“NRF will ensure that the overall research eco-system in the country is strengthened with focus on identified thrust areas relevant to our national priorities and towards basic science without duplication of effort and expenditure,” Sitharaman said. 

“We would work out a very progressive and research-oriented structure for NRF. The funds available with all ministries will be integrated in NRF. This would be adequately supplemented with additional funds," she added.

The idea of the NRF was first unveiled in the National Education Policy (NEP) – a long term planning document – released as a draft on 31 May, with the government now moving swiftly to put it into place. Sitharaman said the government would follow the NEP. 

The NEP document, which is currently going through a consultation process, has not yet been finalised. 

“The primary problems are the lack of a research culture and mindset, limited funding and lack of research capabilities in most universities,” noted Asfia Zafar, research scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. 

“Several schemes were launched in the past, but their impact was limited due to their very conventional implementation model. The NRF will hopefully change the scenario.”

Budget increases for higher education, research

The government has allocated INR948.5 billion (US$13.8 billion) for the education sector in the 2019-20 fiscal year – which is 3.3% of the national budget. Of this, INR383.17 billion (US$5.6 billion) is for higher education – an increase of around 8% compared to last year’s higher education allocation.

More strikingly, the total allocation for research and innovation has more than doubled in the budget from INR2.4 billion (US$35 million) million last fiscal year to INR6.09 billion (US$88.8 million) in the current budget, reversing a steady decline over the past decade. Research spending is currently around 0.7 % of India’s gross domestic product. 

The NRF will also create an ‘Innovation Fund’ to support innovative projects at pre-incubation, incubation and start-up level, Sitharaman said.

Suitable infrastructure and qualified staff will be provided to achieve the objectives, according to the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

The NRF will focus on building high-quality human resources, comparable to the global best with a good understanding of research and innovation methods. It will create substantial numbers of interconnected ‘Centres of Global Excellence’ as drivers of research and innovation, with deep connections to society and the economy, according to Sitharaman.

Centres of excellence

Centres of Excellence will be established in existing institutions of high repute and focus on ‘thrust’ areas of national importance. These centres will conduct world-class research in ‘thrust’ fields, train high-quality technical human resources of global standards and aggressively engage with local higher education institutions and the research community, especially for developing high-quality human capital.

To attain excellence, the new education policy proposes to maintain a ‘catchment’ of 40-50 institutions with increased autonomy, to which special incentives to improve performance would be provided. 

The government has allocated INR4 billion (US$58 million) – up more than threefold from around INR1.3 billion (US$19 million) allocated last year – for building world-class higher education institutions and to fund more institutions to boost their performance in world university rankings to reach within the top 200. 

To this end, the government approved the Institutions of Eminence (IoE) scheme in 2017 with six institutions – three public and three private – already named. 

The IoE scheme aims to establish 10 world-class institutions from each of the public and private sectors. Any further declaration of IoEs shall automatically be a part of this ‘catchment’, according to the ministry. 

The original proposals for Institutions of Eminence stated the government would name 30 IoEs – 15 public and 15 private institutions.

Funding of NEP proposals

Sitharaman also said the government will bring in the new National Education Policy “to transform India’s higher education system to one of the global best education systems” – an indication that the NEP will be a major plank of Modi’s second term. 

The budget allocation to central universities has been increased by nearly INR4 billion to INR68.43 billion. The flagship Indian Institutes of Technology are allocated only a slight increase of INR64.1 billion this year as against INR63.26 million in 2018-19. 

But the allocation for the Indian Institutes of Management, which were given autonomy last fiscal year, saw a significant drop – INR4.46 billion for all the Indian Institutes of Management in 2019-20 compared to INR10.36 billion in the 2018-19 budget. 

The latest budget reduces the allocation for education regulators the University Grants Commission and the All India Council for Technical Education. In its NEP, the government recommends a new overarching regulator to be known as the Higher Education Commission of India.

Draft legislation to set up the Higher Education Commission of India would be presented in the year ahead, Sitharaman said, adding: "This will help to comprehensively reform the regulatory system of higher education to promote greater autonomy and focus on better academic outcomes."

However, there has been some opposition in parliament in the past to a regulatory revamp.

Bid to attract foreign students

The government's plan is to launch a 'Study in India' programme to attract foreign students in higher education. "India has the potential to become a hub of higher education,” Sitharaman said. 

"India is yet to harness the full potential of its wide education network to attract international students. The initiatives in India to promote the internationalisation of higher education have been very limited,” she said. 

Under the ‘Study in India’ programme, a centralised admissions portal and a helpline have been put in place. Around 100 participating institutions also offer fee waivers to meritorious students under the scheme launched by the Human Resource Development Ministry last year. More than 30 countries have been identified under the Study in India programme for promotional activities.

To give impetus to the inbound flow of international students, 2,500 scholarships will be on offer from the current year. The construction of 20 ‘state-of-the-art’ student accommodation facilities for international students has been approved, to be built at various higher education institutions in India.

Boost for research culture

Meanwhile, the University Grants Commission (UGC) this week introduced the STRIDE scheme in order to boost research culture in the universities across India. STRIDE – Scheme for Trans-disciplinary Research for India’s Developing Economy – will not only work to increase research but also to identify young talent, encourage innovation, build capacity and promote transdisciplinary subjects.

Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ said the “STRIDE scheme will help students and faculty to contribute towards India’s developing economy with the help of collaborative research”. 

He added that a focus on humanities and human sciences would “boost quality research on Indian languages and knowledge systems”.

UGC Chairman Dhirendra Pal Singh said: “STRIDE will provide support to the innovative research projects that are socially relevant, locally need-based, nationally important and globally significant.”

Networks of 7,000 universities declare climate emergency

Brendan O’Malley  10 July 2019

Networks representing more than 7,000 higher and further education institutions from six continents have announced that they are declaring a ‘climate emergency’, and agreed to undertake a three-point plan to address the crisis through their work with students. 

The three-point plan, published in an open letter on 10 July, includes:

• • Committing to going carbon neutral by 2030 or 2050 at the very latest.
  
• • Mobilising more resources for action-oriented climate change research and skills creation.
  
• • Increasing teaching and learning about environmental and sustainability education across curricula, campus and community outreach programmes.

The letter says: “The young minds that are shaped by our institutions must be equipped with the knowledge, skills and capability to respond to the ever-growing challenges of climate change. We all need to work together to nurture a habitable planet for future generations and to play our part in building a greener and cleaner future for all.”

Admissions Open For July 2019 Session

इग्नू के नए शैक्षणिक सत्र में प्रवेश शुरू

इग्नू की ओर से जुलाई 2019 से आरंभ होने वाले शैक्षणिक सत्र में प्रवेश की अधिसूचना जारी कर प्रवेश प्रक्रिया शुरू कर दी

एससी व एसटी के विद्यार्थियों के लिए प्रवेश निशुल्क है। वे ऑफलाइन आवेदन आरआर कॉलेज स्थित इग्नू अध्ययन केंद्र से प्राप्त कर सकते हैं। पूर्व विद्यार्थियों के पुन: पंजीयन के आवेदन की अंतिम तिथि 30 जून से बढ़ाकर 31 जुलाई कर दी गई है। 

Admissions Open for July 2019 Session

UGC-NET June 2019 results announced, nearly 51,000 qualifies eligibility for Asst Prof

NEW DELHI: Nearly 51,000 candidates have qualified for eligibility for assistant professors, while 4,756 of them have qualified for the Junior Research Fellowships. The National Testing Agency (NTA) had announced the University Grants Commission – National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) June 2019 results on Saturday. For the first time a qualification list for economically weaker section category has been announced. While the number of females who took the exam are significantly higher, the success rate is in favour of the males.

Compared to December 2018 test, while the number of candidates registered have decreased by around 14,000, the number of candidates qualified for assistant professorship has increased by over 10,000. The number of candidates qualified for Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and/ or assistant professor has also increased from 3,946 to 4,756.

Admissions Open for Under Graduate And Post Graduate Programs for July 2019 Session

Certificate in Phlebotomy Assistance (CPHA)

Programme Overview

The Phlebotomy Assistant program is a short duration skill based training program, with an objective to develop a pool of trained workforce which can be employed by diagnostic/ healthcare service providers to assist medical laboratory technologist/pathologist. This program focuses on the acquisition of skills necessary to draw quality blood samples from patients, storage & transport to laboratory for medical testing.

Objectives

The program aims at making a student competent to perform the following skills:

•  Demonstrate the ability to collect. Storage, transport, receive, accept or reject and store blood, etc.
•  Practice infection control measures including collection, segregation, storage, transportation and disposal of the Biomedical Waste in the lab/unit, techniques to maintain the personal hygiene & use of the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at work place.
•  Demonstrate Basic Life Support (BLS) measures & first aid in the event of emergencies.
• Minimum Duration : 6 Months
• Maximum Duration : 2 Years
• Course Fee : Rs 7,500
• Minimum Age : No bar
• Maximum Age : No bar
• Eligibility : 12th Pass with Science

Post Graduate Diploma in Sustainability Science (PGDSS)

Humanity faces many overlapping crises of environmental sustainability, including climate change as the result of human-caused emissions of greenhouse gases, massive environmental pollution, loss of biodiversity, the depletion of natural resources including energy (oil, gas, coal) and groundwater. Sustainable development is the only viable path for humanity and Sustainability Science is an emerging discipline that seeks to understand the fundamental characters of interactions between nature and society to accommodate sustainable development.

 It is observed that the lack of integration across sectors in terms of strategies, policies and implementation has long been perceived as one of the main pitfall of previous approaches to sustainable development. 

Certificate in Geriatric Care Assistance (CGCA)

Programme Overview

A Geriatric Care Assistant (GCA) can be defined as a trained and certified health-care worker who usually works in a hospital, home or Old Age home environment and provide care to the elderly or old age patients. Internationally they may be called by similar names such as Elderly Care Attendants, Geriatric Nursing Aides or Patient Care Assistants.

Objectives

The program aims at making a student competent to perform the following skills:

•  Demonstrate skills in basic geriatrics care such as assessment, patient positions, movements, preparation of facilities/environment of the patient, feeding, hygience, grooming, dressing, bathing and elimination needs of the geriatric patients, oral care, hari care, eye and ear care, skin, nail and foot care of geriatric patients.
•  Demonstrate skills in management of positions & pressure points, disabilities and well being of geriatric patient, including counseling skills and management of mental health issues in geriatric patients as well as Basic Life Support(BLS) measures & first aid in the event of emergencies.
• Minimum Duration : 6 Months
• Maximum Duration : 2 Years
• Course Fee : Rs 6,500
• Minimum Age : No bar
• Maximum Age : No bar
• Eligibility : 12th Pass with science

Certificate in General Duty Assistance (CGDA)

Programme Overview

The General Duty Assistant (GDA) program is a short duration skill based training program, with an objective to develop a pool of trained workforce which can be employed by hospitals and healthcare facilities to provide support to nurses, doctors as well as other healthcare team members in ensuring quality care to the patients. The program focuses on the acquisition of skills necessary to provide support by undertaking non-clinical tasks or the activities that that have been directed by the healthcare team members.

Objectives

The program aims at making a student complete to perform the following skills

•  Demonstrate skills in patient positions and use of assistive devices, preparation of patient care unit, skills in transporting a patient, handling of samples, drugs and linen and use and after care of equipments
•  Demonstrate skills General Hygiene and Grooming, bathing procedures and guidelines, mouth, Eye, Ear, Skin, Hair, Nail and foot care, feeding the patient, taking care of elimination needs and procedures
•  Practice infection control measures, promote safety and demonstrate right methods of bio-medical waste management.
• 
  
• Minimum Duration : 6 Months
• Maximum Duration : 2 Years
• Course Fee : Rs 6,000
• Minimum Age : No bar
• Maximum Age : No bar
• Eligibility : 12th Pass

Related Information

Every healthcare setting big or small needs GDAs to undertake and manage non-clinical activities within a healthcare setting (eg. Patient sample transportation, documentation, infection control and cleanliness).

The GDA program is thus a platform for gaining knowledge, understand the operations and types of services provided by a healthcare setting. The GDA can progress to take up similar profile such as Home Health Aide, Nursing Aide and assistants or can also have vertical progression by taking up more responsibilities such as GDA supervisor, Floor supervisor etc after adequate experience.

IGNOU Launches Certificate in Persian Language (CPEL)

08 July, 2019

IGNOU’s School of Foreign Languages (SOFL) has launched CERTIFICATE IN PERSIAN LANGUAGE (CPEL) through ODL (Open and Distance Learning) mode. The programme aims at those learners who are interested in learning Persian language in a non-native context and who desire to have knowledge of Persian culture.

The prime objective of this programme is that the learners acquire language skills (grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, antonyms & synonyms, basic communicative competence, both in oral and written communication. the programme will enhance the learners to communicate effectively with the Persian / Iranian speaking world in the activities and exercises related to daily life.  

Eligibility: 10+2 or 18 years of age 
Medium of instruction: English and Persian 
Duration of the programme: Min. 06 months and Max. 2 years 
Admission Cycle: offered in both January and July sessions 
Fee: INR 1800/- for full programme

At present programme to be offered through the following Regional Centres (RCs):Delhi-1, Kolkata, Patna, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Srinagar and NOIDA  

Applicants can apply online through the admission portal https://onlineadmission.ignou.ac.in/admission/  

For more information on the Programme, applicants could contact the Programme Coordinator; 
Dr. Mohammad Saleem (Assistant Professor of Arabic) 
Dr. Sarwarul Haque (Consultant, Persian Language)  

School of Foreign Languages (SOFL) 
Indira Gandhi National Open University 
Maidan Garhi, New Delhi 110068 
E-mail: saleem@ignou.ac.in, sarwarulhaque@ignou.ac.in 
Tel: 011-2957 1640/2957 1637/ 2957 1631  

Programme Details:

Course Code	Course Title	Course Objective	Credits
BPEL 011	Basics of Persian	In this course the students/learners will develop their linguistic competencies at the beginner level	8
BPEL 012	Communication Skills	In this course the learners / students will develop situation based  communication skills at the breakthrough level	8

IGNOU launches Post Graduate Certificate in Climate Change (PGCCC) from July 2019 session

INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY 

SOITS

POST GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN CLIMATE CHANGE (PGCCC) 

In the backdrop of importance placed on creating awareness on climate change science and adaptation strategies by various ministries under the Government of India, the programme was tailor-made to incorporate the developments in the domain of climate change with respect to human influences on climate, the consequences of climate change, climate change conventions and protocols. The learners will be enriched with knowledge on the impact of climate change on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The learners will be capacitated with the response options to the climate change like mitigation and adaptation strategies.

IGNOU extends registration date for MBA (OPENMAT) & B.Ed Entrance Tests through NTA

02 July, 2019

The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has extended the last date for the submission of the entrance test application form for OPENMAT and B.Ed programmes to 5th July 2019 to be conducted through National Testing Agency.

 

This time the entrance examinations of IGNOU's MBA (OPENMAT) & B.Ed programmes for January 2020 admissions will be conducted by National Testing Agency on 27th July 2019, at more than 100 cities across India.

 

Interested candidates are advised to visit the website of NTA,  https://ntaignou.nic.in/cms/public/home.aspx for the online submission of the form. Interested candidates are also to note that no application in hard copy will be accepted. Complete details of the programmes are available on the IGNOU website www.ignou.ac.in.

 

Last date of On-line Registration and fee submission is 5th July 2019 up to 12.00 midnight.

Skill oriented education having practical learning should be adopted -- Prof. D.S. Chauhan VC, GLA University

Delivering 24th Prof. G Ram Reddy Memorial Lecture at IGNOU, Prof. D.S. Chauhan VC, GLA University, Mathura & Former President of Association of Indian Universities on "Informal Learning for Sustainable Education: Quality Concerns and ODL Regulations" said that skill oriented education having practical learning should be adopted so that this (ODL) system could contribute to national aspirations.

 

He also highlighted Prof. G Ram Reddy’s role in building institutions of excellence in higher education including IGNOU. Remembering Prof. Reddy’s contribution, he quoted then Education Minister, Dr. K.C. Pant’s statement on the floor of the parliament that Prof. Ram Reddy, an eminent educationist who was responsible for the establishment of Andhra Pardesh Open University is most suited for the establishment of national Open University in the country.

 

While explaining the philosophy of Open Learning, Prof. Chauhan said that it promotes all the forms of learning, i.e., formal, non-formal and informal learning. And informal learning can be understood from the perspective of non-formal education and is imperative for the development of a diverse nation like India as it facilitates flexible and open-ended system that is accessible to all sections of the society, he elaborated.