The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), established by an Act of Parliament in 1985, has continuously striven to build an inclusive knowledge society through inclusive education. It has tried to increase the gross enrollment ratio (GER) by offering high-quality teaching through the open and distance learning (ODL) mode.

Today, it serves the educational aspirations of over 3 million students in India and other countries through 21 schools of studies and a network of 67 regional centres, around 2,000 learner support centres and 20 overseas institutions. The university offers about 200 certificate, diploma, degree and doctoral programs, with a strength of nearly 250 faculty members and 230 academic staff at the headquarters and regional centres and over 35,000 academic counsellors from conventional institutions of higher learning, professional organizations, and industry among others.