its Convocation twice a year from now on. The Academic Council and
university authorities have finalized the procedure for the same,
announced Vice Chancellor Prof V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai.
Addressing the 23rd Convocation of IGNOU at Sirifort Auditorium in New
Delhi on May 26, Prof Pillai declared that IGNOU shall hold its
Convocation after each semester exam results - one in April and the
other in October. This is a path breaking initiative implemented for
the first time in any university in India.
Around 9,000 students were awarded Degrees, Diplomas and Certificates
at the 23rd Convocation. There were nine Gold medalists - Manoj Jain -
DSM, Priya Singh - PGDCA, Vasantha Kumar K. - PGDDM, Anju - MPS,
Musadhique K.P. - MSO, Shazia Aslam - BLS, Charu Goyal - M.COM, Vivek
Manchanda- PGDHHM, and Geetika Bindlish - MCA.
The 23rd Convocation was for candidates who have completed their
respective programmes and appeared for examination in December 2010.
The University declared the results within record 45 days through
decentralized evaluation. IGNOU holds its Term End Examination twice a
year in June and December.
Prof. U.R. Ananthamurthy, former President of National Book Trust and
Sahitya Akademi, and Chair Professor of the Tagore Chair for Indian
Literature at IGNOU, delivered the convocation address.
He emphasized that a good inspiring teacher is often difficult to find
in creative engagement with social sciences.
"While good teaching may be lacking, research goes on often as a cut
and paste exercise. Teaching quality is notoriously difficult to
measure but research can be quantified. Many teachers acquire fame
through the number of papers they may have mechanically produced
without making a contribution. What is expected of the student in
humanities and social sciences is ideological conformity rather than
critical appraisal," Prof Ananthamurthy said.
Quoting a scholar, Professor Scruton, he said, "I envisage an
experiment in distance learning in which students work from home, and
attend lectures, receive tutorials, and engage in discussions through
internet connections. As the internet becomes more interactive, the
need for universities to establish themselves in physical space rather
than in cyber space is less evident."
"Virtual communities of scholarships might be more volatile than real
communities of scholars. But they will be far more responsive to the
demands of their customers, and far cheaper to run. They could provide
most of what is provided by humanities department, with added
advantage of choosing their professors from all over the world� first
rate scholars could participate in such projects," he further added.
Unfortunately in some of our universities we have social science and
humanities departments with one or two creative scholars and a larger
number of efficient but mediocre teachers.
At best, they teach what is politically correct and generally
acceptable, and the learner's mind is not awakened to unconventional
enquiry. The physical science teaching and research may be slightly
better than this in almost every university, he added.
Dr. Sanjeev Pandey, Regional Director, Regional Centre Delhi-1,
organised the Convocation on behalf of all the Regional Centres of
Delhi & NCR.
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