2009-10-29 14:38:04 -
London, October , 29, 2009
* Learning on the mobile for approximately 2.5 million
students
* E-learning reaches rural India
* Students from 34 countries benefit through partnerships
The classroom of the future is moving to mobile phones, and reaching
farther into India thanks to a new partnership between Ericsson
(NASDAQ: ERIC) and IGNOU (The Indira Gandhi National Open
University). Ericsson will build a 3G environment for students to
download IGNOU course contents. They can also get SMS alerts on their
mobile devices.
Professor V N Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor of IGNOU, says:
"Our University is founded on the idea that education should be
offered to less advantaged sections of society. With Ericsson's help,
we will create a learning platform that uses mobile devices to build
educational excellence and exchange information. Our students will
benefit from the flexibility of learning at their own pace, any time,
anywhere."
Gowton Achaibar, President of Ericsson India, says: "This partnership
is yet another proof point of telecommunication being key for
development of society. Education using mobile broadband technology
will provide an efficient and economical way to get content to
students in distance learning programs."
The government in India has recently begun promoting higher education
in the country, where only 15 percent of students currently reach
high school. Similarly, India is suffering a shortage of teachers
with higher degrees and 50 percent of college professors teach
without a master's degree or a PhD.
IGNOU was set up to pioneer open and distance learning. It offers
various academic programs leading to Certificates, Diplomas and
Degrees. The university has more than two million students enrolled,
in India as well as in 34 other countries.
Gowton Achaibar adds, "We have a clear opportunity to use India's
rapidly rising teledensity to bring the advantages of broadband to
the world of education."
Notes to editors:
Photos of signing ceremony and Gowton Achaibar will be available
here:
www.ericsson.com/ericsson/press/photos/index.shtml
Ericsson's multimedia content is available at the broadcast room:
www.ericsson.com/broadcast_room
Ericsson is the world's leading provider of technology and services
to telecom operators. Ericsson is the leader in 2G, 3G and 4G mobile
technologies, and provides support for networks with over 1 billion
subscribers and has a leading position in managed services. The
company's portfolio comprises of mobile and fixed network
infrastructure, telecom services, software, broadband and multimedia
solutions for operators, enterprises and the media industry. The Sony
Ericsson and ST-Ericsson joint ventures provide consumers with
feature-rich personal mobile devices.
Ericsson is advancing its vision of "to be the prime driver in an
all-communicating world" through innovation, technology, and
sustainable business solutions. Working in 175 countries, more than
75,000 employees generated revenue of SEK 209 billion (USD 32.2
billion) in 2008. Founded in 1876 with the headquarters in Stockholm,
Sweden, Ericsson is listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm and NASDAQ New
York.
www.ericsson.com
www.twitter.com/ericssonpress
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT
Ericsson Corporate Public & Media Relations
Phone: +46 10 719 69 92
E-mail: press.relations@ericsson.com
About IGNOU
IGNOU has been established by an Act of Parliament on 1985. In
relatively short period it grew into a giga university by 2004 and by
2006 it grew into the world's largest among universities of all
types. Its students strength is about 2.5 million worldover. IGNOU
has 62 Regional centres, countryside, nationwide. The Regional
centres through 2,340 study centres. The university is present in 34
countries with 53 partner institutions abroad.
Mandated to take education to the doorsteps of people, IGNOU today
disseminates education to over eight (8) million homes through the
Edusat-mediate beams of DTH services. Increasingly IGNOU is putting
into applications the latest Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs) to reach out to the unreached in the remote areas
of rural India.
www.ignou.ac.in
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