Tamil Nadu Open University

About Tamil Nadu Open University

The Tamil Nadu Open University was established by an Act (No.27 of 2002) of the Legislative Assembly of the Government of Tamil Nadu. The University offers many Programmes in various disciplines. The Tamil Nadu Open University is the tenth State Open University to be established in the whole of India. It was established mainly to provide access to higher education through Distance Mode to a large segment of the population and in particular, the disadvantaged groups, in remote and rural areas including working people, housewives and adults desirous of acquiring higher qualification and upgrading their knowledge in the areas of their interest. The University organizes seminars, conferences, workshops etc., for the benefit of teachers, lesson writers, evaluators, academic counsellors etc., so as to enable them to keep themselves abreast of vast and rapid changes, adapt and adopt them, wherever feasible. The University has as many as 700 centres, scattered throughout Tamil Nadu through which it reaches the masses and interacts with them.

The academic departments are known as Schools, headed by a senior member of the faculty assisted by teaching and other staff. These are -

1. School of Continuing Education

2. School of Education

3. School of Humanities

4. School of Management Studies

5. School of Social Sciences

6. School of Sciences

7. School of Health Sciences

8. School of Computer Sciences

9. School of Tamil and Cultural Studies

10. School of Politics and Public Administration

11. School of Journalism and New Media Studies

The University has a wide network of centres such as -

• Learning Resource Centres [LRCs]
• Vocational Programme Centres [VPCs]
• Programme Study Centres [PSCs]
• Regional Centres [RCs]

Facilities

Instructional System - The current system of instruction at TNOU comprises the following:

1. Printed materials in self-learning format.
2. Face-to-face contact classes in the form of counselling/tutoring sessions.
3. Continuous assessment of learner progress through assignments.
4. Term-end examinations

Student Support Services - Delivery of effective and efficient service to students is the main agenda of the University. It has, for this purpose, established a separate Student Support Services Division, exclusively to facilitate expeditious redressal of grievances of the students.

Scholarships - Government scholarships for S.C / S.T and Physically Handicapped available for on-campus students, are available to TNOU students as well. TNOU is the only University in Tamil Nadu eligible to secure scholarships for its students from the South Asian Foundation (SAF). In other words, TNOU students are the only students in Tamil Nadu eligible to get this scholarship worth Rs. 4,500 each. The details of the scholarship are available with the Centres.

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Information compiled from: Tamil Nadu Open University Website