The Indira Gandhi National Open University has inked a pact with the Honghe University (HU) of China to offer degree and diploma programmes at the undergraduate and postgraduate level. The emphasis will be on research and development with the use of ICT enabled education and interactive multimedia in distance education deliveries.
The MoU was signed by the Registrar of IGNOU, Mr. U. S Tolia and the Vice President of HU of China, Prof. Peng Qiang. Prof. V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor of IGNOU received the delegation.
The aim of the collaboration is to empower people to participate effectively in the process of national development. The pact shall establish a network for collaboration in the field of higher education through distance education.
Speaking on the collaboration, Prof. Peng Qiang, Vice President of HU said, “We would look forward for a teacher and student exchange programme with IGNOU focusing not only on English as a subject but Chinese, science and management as well. With a step by step approach, we also want to exchange students from management programmes and keep avenues open for other subjects like economics, financial management and international trade. Thailand and Vietnam have projects of teacher and student exchange which we also want to develop with IGNOU.”
Dr. Latha Pillai, Pro VC, IGNOU, said that “The importance of teacher education is one of the areas which can be explored for cooperation between the two universities.”
The Chinese Delegation was received by Prof. G. Chaudhuri, Director, School of Foreign Languages, requested the HU head to provide a Chinese teacher to teach Chinese in IGNOU.
Prof. P.R. Ramanujam, Pro VC, IGNOU also informed the HU delegation that three MoUs have been signed earlier with Chinese Universities.
