IGSLM About Us



The Staff Training and Research Institute of Distance Education (STRIDE) started as the Division of Distance Education in 1985 to cater to the training needs of various functionaries of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). Later, based on the proposal by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India to set up a training institute for distance education in South Asian Region, the Division of Distance Education of IGNOU was upgraded into the Staff Training and Research Institute of Distance Education (STRIDE) in 1993. STRIDE was initially entrusted with the task of training the staff of IGNOU, and State Open Universities (SOUs) and distance education institutes in India as well as South Asia. Over the years STRIDE has served the distance education training needs of the Asian, African and the Caribbean countries. It offers two professional long-term training programmes on Distance Education: Post-Graduate Diploma in Distance Education and Master of Arts in Distance Education. A PhD Programme in Distance Education is also on offer since 2007. For more details about STRIDE, see http://www.ignou.ac.in/institute/frame.html

The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is the World's largest Open University with over 1.8 Millions students on its roll. Established in 1985, it has dual role: to act as an apex body of Open Distance Education in India and also to offer courses and programmes at certificate, Diploma and Degree levels. At present it offers more than 135 programmes in various disciplines with over 1300 courses. IGNOU courses are offered through Regional Centres and Study Centres spread across the country. IT has 46 centres in 32 countries as well. For more details about IGNOU, see http://www.ignou.ac.in