AJAZ AHMAD SALATI

The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), established by an Act of Parliament in 1985, to provide high-quality teaching through the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) mode. The University began by offering two academic programmes in 1987, i.e., Diploma in Management and Diploma in Distance Education, with a strength of 4,528 students. Today, it serves the educational aspirations of over 4 million students in India and 36 other countries through 21 Schools of Studies and a network of 67 regional centres, around 3,000 learner support centres and 67 overseas centres. The University offers about 490 certificate, diploma, degree and doctoral programmes, with a strength of nearly 420 faculty members and academic staff at the headquarters and regional centres and about 36,000 academic counsellors from conventional institutions of higher learning, professional organisations, and industry among others. IGNOU the National Resource Centre for Open and Distance Learning, with international recognition and presence, shall provide seamless access to sustainable and learner-centric quality education, skill upgradation and training to all by using innovative technologies and methodologies and ensuring convergence of existing systems for large-scale human resource development, required for promoting integrated national development and global understanding. The University has made a significant mark in the areas of higher education, community education and continual professional development. The University has been networking with reputed public institutions and private enterprises for enhancing the educational opportunities being offered by it. As a world leader in distance education, it has been conferred with awards of excellence by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Canada, several times. In January 2010, it was listed 12th in the webometric ranking of Indian universities, based on the calibre of its presence on the Internet.

The Regional Engineering College Srinagar is situated near the famous Hazratbal shrine in Srinagar. It is close to Dal Lake which is major tourist attraction of Kashmir.Regional Engineering College Srinagar, was established in 1960 and was one of the first eight Regional Engineering Colleges established by India during the first Five Year Plan.] The institute shifted to its present campus in 1965. As the Regional Engineering College, the college was affiliated to the University of Kashmir.The Regional Engineering College, Srinagar was upgraded as the National Institute of Technology, Srinagar in July, 2003. In the same year, the institution was granted Deemed University status with the approval of the University Grants Commission, All India Council of Technical Education and the Government of India. On August 15, 2007 it became an Institute of National Importance under the NIT Bill. NIT Srinagar has eight Engineering departments and four Applied Science departments. The academic departments are: Civil Engineering Chemical Engineering Computer Science and Engineering Electrical Engineering Electronics and Communication Engineering Information Technology Mechanical Engineering Metallurgical Engineering Applied Science departments are: Chemistry Humanities and Social Sciences Mathematics Physics