New Delhi, (IANS) In 1985 it was started as a university for disadvantaged students, now 25 years later Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has evolved into a premier educational institution. The varsity will enter its silver jubilee year next month.

‘The university has indeed come a long way since its inception in 1985. The IGNOU was started as an alternative to the formal system of education for the disadvantaged groups of society and has evolved into a university of choice,’ said Vice Chancellor V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai.

‘It is making knowledge and skills available to anybody, anytime, anywhere,’ he added.

Currently, IGNOU is one of the largest open university in the world providing education to 2.5 million students both in India and abroad.

It has 61 regional centres, 2,243 learner support centres spread across 34 countries across the globe.

The varsity offers 3,500 courses in 323 academic spheres. IGNOU has been recognized as Centre of Excellence in Distance Education by the Commonwealth of Learning, Canada.

Started with a vision of social inclusion and democratization of education, IGNOU has a large number of socially and academically relevant programmes and nation-wide student support system. It offers state-of-the-art education through face-to-face, webcasts, telecasts and video conferencing.

-- IANS