Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU) was established in July 1989 by Act XX- (1989) of the Maharashtra State Legislature. It is the Fifth Open University in the country. The jurisdiction of this university, originally for the State of Maharashtra, has now been extended beyond this State and the university can now operate anywhere across the globe. The YCMOU has been recognized under section 12 (B) of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956. It is a member of various prestigious associations and bodies like the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU), Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Canada to name a few. The main aim of the YCMOU is to become a Mass Varsity and to make available to the common man, educational programmes that are of practical use in his day-to-day life and those that provide better prospects for the future. The University offers several offline programmes and has also embarked on a number of innovative online initiatives. The YCMOU has its headquarters at Nashik, Regional Centres at 8 districts and the study centres spread all over the State of Maharashtra.
Maharashtra has a long and rich tradition of educational reforms. Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Bhaurao Patil, Swami Ramanand Teerth and other great thinkers and reformers have contributed to educational philosophy and movement in the state. It was therefore appropriate that the state realized the need of an open university, The university was established on 1st July, 1989 through Act XX of 1989 of the Maharashtra State Legislature, justly named after Yashwantrao Chavan, Maharashtra’s great political leader and builder of modern Maharashtra.
Due to statutory powers conferred by an act XX (1989) of Maharashtra state legislature and the recognition by the ‘University Grants Commission of India’, this university is fully empowered to award various academic certifications like certificates, diplomas, and graduate, post-graduate, doctoral degrees. This university also takes all precautions, at all programme stages from ‘Curriculum Design’ to ‘Examination’, to ensure that the standards and quality of, education and examinations are preserved. The curriculum of these programmes is designed for Equivalence, with respective similar academic programmes, offered by other statutory universities. This university also provides many different diploma or certificates, which may or may not be equivalent to any other such certificates.
All the degree and post-graduate degree programmes are duly recognized and approved by the ‘University Grant Commission (UGC)’. Hence, these programmes are equivalent to the respective programmes offered by any other statutory university in India, for the purpose of employment, promotion and further education. In this respect, the status of this university is at par with all other statutory universities of India.
