Human capital was more important and the country must focus on creating more skilled workers to meet emerging requirements, she said at the 24th convocation of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Madurai Regional Centre, here on Monday. A total of 750 graduates were awarded degrees and diplomas. N. Amutha Priya from the region was awarded gold medal in the MBA programme.

The country must also increase the student enrolment ratio in higher education from the present level of 15 per cent. It stood at 88 per cent for Canada, 80 per cent for the U.S. and 79 per cent for Australia. Providing access to knowledge was the fundamental way to develop a person, said Prof. Pankajam.

Speaking earlier, the Registrar of Anna University of Technology, Madurai, E.B. Perumal Pillai, said that from its humble beginnings in 1987 with 4,000 students, IGNOU had become the largest and most diverse educational institution with over four million students, offering more than 5,000 courses.

Technology had enabled development of distance education which could not only enhance job prospects but also facilitate promotion.

M. Shanmugam, Regional Director, Madurai, informed that this was the fourth convocation of the region after the Madurai Regional Centre which covered 17 districts and 118 Learner Support Centres became operational in 2008. The total enrolment of the centre was 13,500, recording an annual growth of 21 per cent.

Madurai Regional Centre conducted motivational camps at the central prisons in Madurai, Tiruchi and Coimbatore as part of the prisoners' rehabilitation programme, resulting in nearly 115 prison inmates taking the July 2011 session.

Address by IGNOU Vice-Chancellor V.N. Rajasekaran Pillai; D. Purandeswari, Minister of State for Human Resource Development; E. Ahamed, Minister of State for Human Resource Development and External Affairs; and Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, who was conferred an honorary doctorate of letters, were telecast live.

Source: [The Hindu]