New Delhi: In its silver jubilee year, the 21st convocation of Indira Gandhi National Open University(IGNOU) will be held on March 15, 2010, at IGNOU headquarters and simultaneously at its 43 regional centers at Ahmedabad, Aizawl, Agartala, Aligarh, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Cochin, Chandigarh, Darbhanga, Dehradun, Guwahati, Gangtok,,Hyderabad, Itanagar, Imphal, Jaipur, Jammu, Jabalpur, Karnal, Khanna, Kolkata, Koraput, Kohima, Lucknow, Madurai, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, Port Blair, Pune, Panaji, Raipur, Rajkot, Ranchi, Shillong, Shimla, Siliguri, Srinagar, Trivandrum, Varanasi and Vijayawada via tele-conferencing.

Prof S.K Joshi, Padma Bhushan, former director general, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), shall deliver the convocation address.
Prof Joshi is Vikram Sarabhai Professor of JNCASR at the National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi.

Degree / diploma certificates will be distributed between 11 a.m. & 1:30 p.m. to over 1.3 lakh students all over the country. IGNOU is at present, the world’s largest university with more that three million students.

For collection, students must produce IGNOU I-Card in person and contact the Registrar Student Evaluation Division in case of any problem.

The eligible candidates who have passed their examination held in December 2009 and June 2009 are eligible to attend the convocation.

At this convocation, gold/ silver medals shall be awarded:

1. Gold Medal for Innovation in Open and Distance Learning

2. Gold and Silver medals for best research paper and second- best research paper sponsored by Indian Bank.

3. Gold medal for Best service award to the best Regional Centre.

4. Gold medal for Best International Partner Institution.

5. Prof. G Ram Reddy Memorial Medal for highest aggregate marks in Master Degree Programmes in Social Science Subjects.

Cash awards at this convocation are:

1. CEMCA Cash Award of Rs.10,000 for best female student in Information Communication Technology.

2. Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam cash award of Rs.10,000 for the gold medalist in Bachelor of Social Work.

3. Prof. Grover cash award of Rs.5000 & 3000 for scoring highest marks in M.Com and B.Com for the differently- abled students.