Nokia India & IGNOU Team Up for Certification Programs

Nokia India and Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has announced a first-of-its-kind strategic collaboration to provide mobile intervention for Certification Programs in English on Nokia's Ovi Life Tools.

Nokia and IGNOU signed a Memorandum of Understanding to foster quality education by integrating select mainstream IGNOU programmes on Ovi Life Tools and provide students an array of unmatched & innovative services.

Commenting on its association with IGNOU, Mr D. Shivakumar, Managing Director, Nokia India said, 'Nokia's Ovi Life Tools is aimed at bridging the information gaps by providing timely and relevant information customized to the user's location, language and personal preferences directly on their mobile devices.

'In India, education is considered a necessary skill for progress and gateway to a better future. Our association with IGNOU will immensely benefit students through the dissemination of quality educational content from India's leading open university anytime, anywhere using innovative technologies."

Prof. V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU said, 'We believe in sustainable and learner-centric quality education, skill up gradation and training to all by using innovative technologies and methodologies and we are proud to work with Nokia and strongly recommend such initiatives to foster growth of education. We believe Ovi Life Tools is a perfect platform which can accelerate the education growth in India. Together with Nokia, we aim to reach out to individuals who believe in growth through education."

As the first step, the two organisations will pilot a Certificate Programme in Functional English (CFE) on Ovi Life Tools in focus districts in Maharashtra, for six months (Jan to Jun 2011), As a part of the pilot, Nokia will make available IGNOU admission forms with Nokia phones supporting Ovi Life Tools. The enrolled students besides receiving the study material & related support from IGNOU will also receive daily learning content via Ovi Life Tools services as a 'Study aid and Reinforcer" thus enabling a more seamless learning. On completion of the program they get certificates from IGNOU.

Source: Nokia India