New Delhi, March 3 (IANS) The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) Thursday launched a web portal for students and partner institutions (PIs). It would play a vital role in providing guidelines, publishing information and enhancing interaction, an official said.

The portal has been designed and developed jointly by the Advanced Centre for Informatics and Innovative Learning and the International Division of the university in the Electronic and Media Production Centre, added the official.

"From distance learning, we have come to distributed learning. The portal has a list of programmes currently on offer with all details; support services for registration and evaluation; a query management system and a space for interaction in the form of community blogs and discussion forums," the official said.

"There is also a list of PIs that students can access by clicking on the relevant links," the official added.

The varsity which claims to be traditional when it comes to teaching and depends upon printed study materials, is now venturing into the technical field.

Earlier, it was in open and distance learning mode but now it can reach everyone through internet as access to content is now easy for even international students, added the official.

Internationally, IGNOU programmes are offered through PIs in various countries. At the moment, there are over 40,000 students studying in 40 countries, supported through 67 PIs.

IGNOU is the world's largest university, according to UNESCO, with almost three million students in India and 33 other countries.