Kochi: The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is shifting its focus from traditional courses to skill-based course so as to equip the new generation in a more meaningful way.
This approach has been devised with the Prime Minister’s National Skill Development Mission emphasizing on additional skill acquisition.
IGNOU as a first step has adopted an innovative method of imparting skill-based courses for those undergoing graduate/diploma and higher courses either through regular or distant mode.
These are certificate courses of short duration which can impart a skill to a student.
“We have identified that it would be an ideal situation if a student undergoing a normal graduate course especially in humanities is given a crash course in a particular skill,” said Dr Rajesh, Regional Director at Kochi kendra of the open university.
“By the time the student comes out as a graduate he will be skilled in another area and to support it he will have a credible certificate as well. We are also adding skill based papers to our degree courses so that our students need not join a separate course for this purpose,” he added.
The courses that are on offer include Certificate in Food and Nutrition, in Business Skills, Functional English, HIV and Family Education, Tourism Studies, Child Care, Information Technology and Rural Development.
