IGNOU Regional Centre begins search for new office

Tribune News Service

Jammu, July 8

With pressure mounting on the Jammu Regional Centre of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) with every passing single day to vacate the office building of the Government SPMR College of Commerce, the centre has started the exercise of searching for a new building.

The Tribune had earlier reported that the state Higher Education Department had asked the IGNOU Regional Centre, Jammu, to vacate the building of the Government Sri Pratap Memorial Rajput (SPMR) College of Commerce, Canal Road, which is being used by it to run its affairs since its inception in 1998. The Education Department had taken this stance after the commerce college had discussed the matter with it claiming that it faced serious space crunch to accommodate its own students.

Sources said when the Higher Education Department had asked the regional centre to vacate the college building and suggested to shift to Shakti Nagar where it had already taken a small building, it decided against it because of the ongoing admission process for various undergraduate and postgraduate programmes for the new academic session 2015-16.

The sources claimed that after the recently held meeting of the Higher Education Department, wherein it was decided that the state government was keen to start the academic session of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) from a temporary campus, the Jammu Regional Centre was apprised of the development. Thereafter, the exercise was finally began to search for a new office.

When contacted, KK Bhat, Regional Director, IGNOU Jammu Regional Centre, said, “As far as the finalisation of our venue for the centre is concerned, we are still in a preliminary stage. Right now, the admission process is going and we do not want any disturbance.” “Yes, the regional centre is exploring all options for shifting our entire setup and for that I had a telephonic conversation with the authorities, but the final decision is yet to be taken,” he added.

The IGNOU Jammu Regional Centre is presently having an enrolment of more than 40,000 students.