The second Annual Convocation and 42^nd Annual Prize Distribution Function of the University School of Open Learning (USOL), Panjab University (PU) was held at PU Campus here today.

As many as 69 USOL students received degrees and 100 USOL students received prizes in the literary and sports activities.

Former Secretary Higher Education, MHRD, Government of India Mr. Ashok Thakur delivered the convocation address. PU, Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof Arun K. Grover and many other distinguished guests participated in the USOL convocation.

In his motivating convocation address, Mr. Ashok Thakur highlighted the role of blended learning and importance of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in distance education. He also stressed that the distant education is cost effective and scalable in terms of reaching to larger section of students willing to learn. He also shed light on the new advancements of MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses), e-learning strategies and how they are changing the idea of conventional Universities. He stressed that distant education institutes should provide cost effective and easy accessibility to the learners.

PU VC Prof. Grover congratulated the students for getting degrees and prizes in various literary and sports events.

Chairperson, USOL Prof. R. K. Gupta highlighted the achievements of the USOL in the annual report for the session 2014-2015.