The largest university in the world is in India, Indira Gandhi National Open University with over 7.1 million students.
When asked which is the largest university, we Indians often think it is in France or Germany, and very often get stunned to find it is in India! Indira Gandhi National Open University was established in 1985, offering more than 200 courses, with campuses in every state of India, offering online and offline courses, this grand university is recognized over India and across the globe.
Indira Gandhi National Open University was founded with the idea to make higher education available in every part of India. Therefore it offers 226 study subjects across 21 faculties. With several institutions and 15 field offices in different countries, Indira Gandhi National Open University guarantees itself an international place.
With over 7.1 million students registered, the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) from India is the biggest university in the world accepting almost 20 percent of all students in India. This number is even bigger if it is compared to Germany, where 2.7 million students in total are matriculated, and California with 2.1 million students.
Named after former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi, the university was established in 1985 with a budget of ₹20 million, after the Parliament of India with the Congress government passed the Indira Gandhi National Open University Act, 1985 (IGNOU Act 1985). IGNOU is run by the central government of India, and with a total active enrollment of over 7 million students, it is the largest university in the world.
IGNOU was founded to serve the Indian population by means of distance and open education, providing quality higher education opportunities to all segments of society. It also aims to encourage, coordinate and set standards for distance and open education in India, and to strengthen the human resources of India through education.
Apart from teaching and research, extension and training form the mainstay of its academic activities. It also acts as a national resource center and serves to promote and maintain standards of distance education in India.
IGNOU hosts the Secretariats of the SAARC Consortium on Open and Distance Learning (SACODiL) and the Global Mega Universities Network (GMUNET), initially supported by UNESCO.
Earlier, the Shiv Sena had said, “‘India surviving on a system created by Nehru-Gandhis’ says the Shiv Sena in relation to the Modi government for continuing on the building of the Central Vista project, a lavish 20,000 crone complex amid COVID-19 crisis where lakhs die for lack of oxygen. The Shiv Sena was referring to the AIMS Hospitals created by the Nehru-Gandhis that saved hundreds of lives during COVID-19, the universities and in particular, the largest university in the world Indira Gandhi’s University in India, so it is always baffling to the public when the BJP says, the Congress did nothing in 70 years.