New Delhi: The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has stated that October 31 is the last date for admissions for the January 2010 session without a late fee.

A fine of Rs.200 will be levied afterwards till November 30 which is the deadline for enrolment to the varsity.

The prospectus is available at all the IGNOU regional centres and the counter at its headquarters and can also be downloaded from www.ignou.ac.in.

Recently, IGNOU signed an MoU with the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) for a slew of apparel industry specific educational programmes.

AEPC comprises Apparel Management and Apparel Training and Design Centres (ATDC) which are non-profit industry-managed organisations promoting manufacture and exports of garments, education and training in the domain.

The MoU aims to institute educational programmes in the skill-based domain of apparel, garments, fashion designing which will ensure employment to a large cross-section of the society.

The two arms of the AEPC, Institute of Apparel Management (IAM) and ATDC, have already developed a few programmes for niche areas of functioning in the apparel industry.

This MoU will ensure IGNOU certification and scaling up for further domain knowledge. It is hoped that the MoU will boost professionals in 'fibre to fashion' chain of textile, apparel and retail industries.
The MoU also ensures exploration of possibilities to set up Activity Centre to create avenues for gainful employment in textile, apparel, lifestyle and retail sectors.