During the Pan-Commonwealth Conference on Distance Education held by Commonwealth of Learning (COL) on 30 October – 3 November 2006 in Jamaica, Netaji Subhas Open University, Kolkata, West Bengal was presented by COL, the most prestigious international award in Open and Distance Education titled Commonwealth of Learning (COL) Excellence in Distance Education Award. The award is for institutional excellence. COL is an Intergovernmental International apex organization for Open and Distance Learning in fifty-three Commonwealth countries in the world. The Heads of Government of the Commonwealth created COL to encourage the development and sharing of open, distance and technology-mediated learning (ODL) to improve access and quality of education and training for development.
This Excellence Award was received by the Vice-Chancellor, Netaji Subhas Open University by COL on 2 November 2006 during the Fourth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF4) in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. This honour has been conferred on Netaji Subhas Open University for remarkably emerging as an excellent Distance Education Institution among the Commonwealth Countries in the world specially for disseminating high quality education for one and all and also for its long term and on-going success of making excellent learning opportunities more accessible to students who might otherwise not have participated in the learning or training experience.
It is not only an honour to this University but also for the State of West Bengal and an honour to the entire country. This achievement reflects the high academic quality of the Higher Education Institutions in the province and in the country as well. The University could reach the heights of international glory only because of the untiring support of the State Government of West Bengal and the cooperation of its eminent partners and collaborators at the national level.