Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University

Introduction:
Gujarat is one of the most developed states with rich cultural and entrepreneur heritage. Gujarat has a well organised network of institutions and organizations including a large number of NGOs working in the field of education and development. These traditions inspired the establishment of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University (BAOU) in the State in the year 1994.

The development and acceptance of “Distance Education” both in the developed and developing countries is growing fast. The reason behind such an acceptance is its flexible approach and user friendly technique of education that can provide a viable alternative for everyone who needs to pursue education further to expand his horizons of knowledge, to sharpen his existing knowledge, to upgrade his knowledge, skill and training and thereby, making learning a fulfilling experience.

The BAOU has classified all its potential learners for its diverse academic, programmes into following target groups :

• Women, particularly house-wives
• People engaged in different services, business or agriculture,
• People living in rural and remote areas,
• People belonging to Scheduled Tribes, Schedule Caste, Nomadic Tribes and Socially  Educationally   Backward Class,
• Persons deprived of higher education in young age and aspiring to improve their qualifications now,
• Persons deprived of admission in conventional universities of the state,
• Physically handicapped
• Prisoners
• Working people who wish to improve their professional skills.

Objectives:
The objectives of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University:

• To advance and disseminate learning and knowledge by a diversity of means, including use of any communication technology,
• To provide opportunities for higher education to a large segment of the population,
• To promote the educational well-being of the community generally, and
• To encourage the Open University and distance education system in the education pattern of the State.

Structure
The university is divided into two main divisions Cells and Schools which are given as follows:
Cells of University

• Grievance Redressal Cell
• Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe Cell
• Students Cell
• exual Harassment Cell
• Statistical Cell
• Single Window Cell

Schools of University

• School of Humanities & Social Sciences
• School of Commerce and Management
• School of Education Distance Education & Education Technology
• School of Computer Science

For more details, visit: http://www.baou.org/