New Delhi: The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has joined hands with the Vastu Kala Academy (under the aegis of Institute of Socialist Education, New Delhi) and the Institute of Environmental Design & Architecture (under the aegis of Vidya Vardhan Trust, Goa) to initiate a Bachelor degree programme in the area of Architecture.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this effect was signed by IGNOU Registrar, Mr. K. Laxman Registrar in the presence of Prof. V. N. Rajasekaran Pillai, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU; Prof. Omprakash Mishra, Pro Vice Chancellor, IGNOU; Mr. Shashi Bhushan, Ex. Member of Parliament and President, Institute of Socialist Education; Ms. Nandita Sohani, Chairperson, Institute of Environmental Design & Architecture, Goa and Mr. Vijay Sohani, President, Council of Architecture.

Due to the specific nature of the programme, the proposed B.Arch. Programme has been planned to be delivered through face-to-face mode complemented by necessary distance education components.

"This seamless convergence of conventional and distance education components in the programme will go a long way for the efficient programme delivery", said an official from the varsity.

The B.Arch. Programme is of 5 years duration and will be launched nationwide from January 2009 with the help of other interested partner institutes.

The programme is approved by the Council of Architecture.

For further details of the programme, Dr. Munish Kumar Bhardwaj, Programme Coordinator and Reader in Civil Engineering may be contacted.

Interested candidate may also contact Vastu Kala Academy, New Delhi and Institute of Environmental Design & Architecture, Goa.