Anil Kumar MISRA Assistant Regional Director

Present paper seeks to analyze the impact of training programmes on distance education professionals of Indira Gandhi National Open University, (IGNOU). The objective of the paper is to identify the training needs of Distance Education Professionals to manage distance education affairs of IGNOU, to evaluate the effectiveness of existing training programmes, to develop a feasible training and professional development model for distance education Professionals (DEPs) and to suggest initiatives in existing training for the skill development of DEPs for effective career growth and development. Attempt has been made to apply statistical tools such as skewness, kurtosis, regression and correlation on a different set of variables to assess the impact of the training programmes on DE professionals such as teachers and academics. While addressing the objectives of the study it is revealed that some of the indicators have opened up scope for improvement. Nevertheless trainees have expressed mixed reaction on the quality of training pgrammes with respect to content, methodology and effectiveness. Based on the analysis a workable training model has also been suggested where emphasis on the Common Training Approach (CTA) has been given besides, work specific training. For the over all professional development of DEPs a suitable training strategy has been worked out which ensures training at different strata that includes primary, secondary & tertiary level considering the experience & job requirements of the professionals