With 1.25 lakh pupils, Nalanda Open University is second largest open university

PATNA: Established in 1987 following the implementation of National Education Policy, 1986, Nalanda Open University (NOU) has come of age. Academically, it has become the second largest open university, next only to the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), in the country.
Surprisingly enough, with the assistance of only a skeletal human resource potential, NOU has been catering to the academic needs of more than 1.25 lakh students pursuing more than 117 courses.The university has been running as many as 31 postgraduation courses, seven PG diploma courses, 30 three-year-graduation courses, three intermediate (+2) and 46 certificate courses.
Only recently, the University Grants Commission has allowed the university to run 10 new courses from the current academic session. These courses include MA/MSc in disaster management and home science, BA/BSc in statistics and yoga, BA in Urdu and PG diploma in human resource management. It has written to the UGC to grant permission for some more courses in the next academic session (2019-20), said NOU vice-chancellor Ravindra Kumar Sinha.
Sinha said NOU is also contemplating to run some courses relating to skill development. Discussions with the officials of the state labour department are going on for introducing such job-oriented courses at the earliest, he said.
The VC pointed out that this is the only university in the state which has not sought any financial help from the state government so far. But now, the university requires necessary help of the government in procuring at least 40 acres of land for development of its own campus. The Distance Education Bureau has now made it mandatory for all the open universities to set up their own campuses. NOU has been running in rented buildings right since its inception 31 years ago.
Despite facing physical constraints, the university has developed a modern library with 50,000 books, a modern computer lab with more than 350 computers, well-equipped laboratories in all science subjects, and an airconditioned examination hall fitted with CCTV and videography facility for 1,000 students. The university has got its study centres at 213 places in the state and efforts are being made to have well-equipped examination halls at divisional headquarters, the VC added.