Apart from college principals, the course postgraduate diploma in higher education management (PGDHEM) aims at imparting knowledge to senior training or academic staff in the levels of managers, assistant/deputy/joint managers, general/sales/marketing/retail managers, social workers/activists and senior lecturers or professors.

IGNOU think tank is mulling over a certificate, diploma or masters programmes in HEM.

The initiative of knowledge module series in HEM is linked with the demand made by stakeholders and data gathered from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). IGNOU's pro-vice-chancellor Lata Pillai is the in-charge of the programme.

Course coordinator Vibha Joshi informed, "Compared with academic programmes parallel to courses offered by conventional higher education institutions and also replication of courses offered by directorates of correspondence education of universities IGNOU can boast of offering unconventional, job-oriented programmes in different disciplines."

IGNOU will also launch a management programme specially tailored for corporate honchos and institute heads.

With the launch of a postgraduate diploma programme in `higher education management' for the corporate heads scheduled for January next year, the university has taken a step ahead of its existing trend of training only upcoming managers.

The programme has many firsts to its credit.

Apart from being the only one of its kind, it proposes to use the modern day technology like mobile phones and the internet for imparting teaching and conducting examination.