IGNOU gets campus in Jammu; Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurates building

JAMMU: Twenty-six years after starting its operations in Jammu and Kashmir, IGNOU now has its own campus here in Jammu. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan virtually inaugurated the state-of-the-art campus building of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) Regional Centre, Jammu spread over a two acre-plot at Bantalab in the outskirts of the city on Wednesday.

Having a built-up area of around 6,800 square feet, the new campus building has a high-tech electric, electronic, CCTV, solar, intercom, electronic private automatic branch exchange (EPABX) and fire alarm, said Jai Prakash Verma, Regional Director, IGNOU Regional Centre, Jammu. “This is a historic moment for the Regional Centre, Jammu to have its own permanent full-fledged campus which will not only be beneficial for the Regional Centre but also for the learners and prospective learners of IGNOU in the Jammu region,” he said.

Verma said the cumulative figure of enrolment at the Regional Centre, Jammu since its establishment is around six lakh learners. “The centre has shown sustainable growth in enrolment over the years. The centre on an average registers around 40,000-45000 learners in a calendar year,” he said.

Regional Centre, Jammu currently has 31 Learner Support Centres (LSC) in prominent government higher education institutions, University of Jammu campus and in reputed higher education institutions affiliated with the University of Jammu with LSCs at most of the district headquarters. It has LSC in Central Jail Kot Bhalwal, District Jail Ambphalla, District Jail Udhampur and District Jail Kathua as well, a spokesperson said.

The official said the Centre provides support services to the learners of the belt force associated with the IGNOU Army Regional Centre in Northern Command Udhampur. Verma said the new permanent campus will enable them to add more professional and skill-based job oriented programmes to be offered to the prospective learners. “There are some very popular and high-end professional programmes for which support services are not available in the entire region and learners are forced to seek admission in other Regional Centres. The new campus with state of the art facilities will enable us to provide support to the learners who enrol for such high-end programmes," he said.