Indira Gandhi National Open University is a public university approved by NCTE and AICTE. It offers a number of open learning programs and is well known and recognized among a number of different organizations like the Association of Indian Universities, therefore, doing a B.A. degree from here is a good choice. The following points highlight important aspects of obtaining a B.A degree from the institute.

Academics:

• The BA degrees at IGNOU offer a wide variety of core disciplines in subjects like Economics, Sociology, and Public Administration with a lot of the course work overlapping with UPSC preparations.

• The exams for the coursework are also designed such that they benefit the student if they are appearing for other exams like UPSC.

• IGNOU is known for its well-founded courses that ensure the best interests of the student. Depending on if one plans to choose a distance learning or open course degree, one can choose to appear for UPSC.

BA degree from IGNOU:

• Obtaining a BA degree from the university depends upon if you are a part-time student at the institute or committed to full-time study. The former situation might be a little tough on the student.

• Students are continuously evaluated with assignments, marks from which are counted for the final result.

• Assignments carry a weightage of 30% of the total result. Students are barred from appearing for end term examinations if they miss an assignment.

• The major evaluation component is the term-end evaluation system which carries a total of 70% weightage. These exams are conducted twice a year.

• Students are expected to study from the course material provided and answer accordingly to the point. Most importantly, ensure that one is registered for the exam, failing which results are not declared.

In conclusion, you can definitely prepare for the UPSC CSE at the same time as your BA degree. While it is not very tough to clear the BA degree, a habit of regular study will definitely help one obtain it with a good result.

Indira Gandhi National Open University is a central government-owned educational institute. The college is recognized by AIU and has been approved by UGC.

Sikkim Manipal University Distance Learning is owned by a public-private partnership. The college is also recognized by UGC.

Highlights:

IGNOU:

• It also has over 25 foreign education partner institutions.

• The institute provides open, distance, and online modes of education.

• The college provides over 200 courses across more than 20 streams.

SMU:

• The institution was set-up to provide distance education for students and working professionals.

• The college was awarded the “Best University in Distance Learning” by ASSOCHAM India and won a Silver Award in Digital Learning Transformation Category in 2018.

• The college provides 13 courses across two streams.

Admission Procedure:

The admission procedure for both colleges is similar.

• The eligibility criteria for each course at both colleges vary. The basic eligibility criteria at SMU and IGNOU is having completed 10+2 for undergraduate courses and having completed graduation for postgraduate courses.

• Some courses require appearing for the common entrance examinations conducted by the respective institutes.

Faculty:

IGNOU:

• The institute has more than 800 faculty members and over 33000 academic counselors.

• Teachers have vast experience and are well-educated. They provide constant support and guidance to the students making the institute among the top institutes.

SMU: The institute has well-qualified teachers who provide constant guidance. The curriculum taught is relevant and updated.

Facilities:

IGNOU:

• It provides 67 regional centers and over 2,667 learner support centers around the country.

• For all courses offered, IGNOU provides flexibility to its students in terms of place and time of the study.

• It has launched an e-learning mobile application to provide a digital learning environment to IGNOU affiliated students.

SMU: The institute has an online portal EduNxt that is designed for online learning.

Placements:

IGNOU: The institute has a central placement cell which organizes placement drives. Companies such as ICICI, Axis Bank, Frankfinn, and NIIT offer placements to students.

SMU: The college also provides placement opportunities.

• Internships and training are provided to students in top companies such as TCS. Companies such as Airtel, Ambuja Cement, Capgemini, and Flipkart offer placements to students.

• The highest package offered goes up to 11 LPA.

IGNOU has the advantage of being the largest open-learning institute and top-ranked in the country being run by the central government. Also, IGNOU has better foreign associations with top-institutes. However, SMU provides better internships and placements. Both provide the great features of e-learning too. Between the two IGNOU is a more recognized and larger institute.

IGNOU is one of the reputed universities of India that provides all kinds of courses ranging from distance to online and offline. Hence, the question rests on what is actually the placement scenario of the university.

The prominent details regarding placements to be focused on are as follows.

Campus Placement Cell (CPC):

University has a campus placement center that acts as an epicenter for the entire process of employment-related activities.

• It ensures that the right candidate is made available with respect to a particular job description.

• It also provides support to companies in all possible forms like logistically and infrastructural resources.

• The prime-most method in which CPC helps is by organizing Job fairs, Campus drives, and recruitment drives.

• It is also planning to launch a training & placement portal on the Samarth platform. It will make the process of placements more channelized and updated.

Job Opportunities:

• As compared to the number of individuals that graduate from IGNOU, the placement percentage is quite less and not impressive.

• Very few students have got the opportunity for campus placements.

• The general view of many pass out students is similar in this case that placement options are almost negligible.

• There are certain courses where students have bagged good packages like B.A. (arts).

Once you get registered for the placement cell, you will definitely receive notifications but that too prominently for graduation courses, not for masters courses.

Alumni Distribution:

Although the alumni distribution of the university shows a varied sectoral range. The below figures justify the above fact.

• Engineering- 13%

• Business Development- 13%

• Operations- 13%

• Information Technology- 13%

• Education- 9%

• Sales- 8%

• Human Resources- 6%

• Finance- 5%

There have been IGNOU alumni in different companies, prominently in the IT sector like HCL Technologies, IBM, Accenture, TCS, Cognizant, Genpact, Wipro, Tech Mahindra.

IGNOU definitely is a sure shot option for studies and pursuing degrees but for placements, it holds a back seat. It can provide you the liberty to do a job and pursue a course, but it is a little inactive when it comes to providing good & decent placements. However, students have the option to opt for off-campus placements.