The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) was established by an Act of Parliament in 1985 to achieve the following objectives : Democratising higher education by taking it to the doorsteps of the learners; Providing access to high quality education to all those who seek it irrespective of age, region or formal qualifications; Offering need-based academic programmes at affordable cost in emerging professional and vocational areas; Promoting and developing distance education and maintaining standards in distance education in the country. IGNOU has more 7,50,000 students with extremely varied profiles, spread throughout the length and breadth of the country. The University has an efficient and effective networking of 46 Regional Centres (5 of which are Army Command Centres, 8 are IAF Command Centres and 4 Navy Command Centres) and over 630 Study Centres, all over India . As an Open University, IGNOU has come a long way since 1985, having crossed national boundaries providing higher education as well as assisting other developing countries in this regard.

This programme aims to fulfil the needs of a large section of learners who are interested in acquiring basic knowledge about computers. It is a short duration programme which every undergraduate can opt for. This programme is used as a tool to assess the learner's potential for taking up computer education through the distance mode. Also, this programme is being used to provide an alternative channel for admission to the BCA and MCA programmes of IGNOU. This programme is offered through HINDI Medium in addition to the ENGLISH Medium.