The state of Orissa lies in the eastern side of the Indian union practically in the lap of Eastern Ghats enjoying the breeze from blue waters of Bay of Bengal. It covers an area of 155707 Sq.k.m. being situated between the parallels of 17049'N and 22034'N latitude and meridians of 81027'E and 87029'E longitudes. The Bay of Bengal forms the boundary line on the east with a coastline of about 450 kilometers. In the land it is bounded by the states of West Bengal in the north east, Jharkhand on the north, Chattishgarh on the west and Andhra Pradesh on the south. It has a population of 368.05 lacs which keeps a population density of 204 per sq.k.m. as per 2001 census. The male/female ratio in the state is 1000:972. The total Scheduled Caste population is about 16.5% and Scheduled Tribe population is 22.1%. If you look at the figure of the literacy rate it is 63.08% with male literacy 75.95% and female literacy 50.51%.

There are 10 Universities and 1679 Colleges (Government and Non-Government) 3 operating within the boundary of orissa. There is one High School in every 22.2 sq.k.m., one Upper Primary School for every 10.9 sq.k.m. and one Lower Primary School for every 3.5 sq.k.m. in this state. Govt. of Orissa is spending a major chunk of its budget outlay for both Primary, Secondary and Higher Eduction in the state. A lot of efforts is being made and new measures/initiatives taken for improvement of the total educational system and therefore the literacy rate in the state is in an increasing trend.

Profile of the Regional Centre  

The Bhubaneswar Regional Centre started functioning since 1986 in a rented building. With ample public support and support from Governmental and non-governmental organizations, this centre has shown splendid performance and achieved a lot of milestones in the past. One of the major achievements of this Centre is acquisition of three acres of land in 1992 granted by Government of Orissa free of cost in a posh area in Bhubaneswar. After acquisition of land IGNOU constructed the first Regional Centre Building in it and in the year 2000 Regional Centre, Bhubaneswar got its own campus with a beautiful building and operating there since then.

Due to establishment of a Regional Centre in Koraput in 2005, the operational area of the Regional Centre, Bhubaneswar has been limited to 19 districts across the coastal and north-western districts of the state.

Since inception of the Bhubaneswar Regional Centre, the enrolment is in an increasing trend. In 2005-06 the total student strength was 12,075 (divided Bhubaneswar Region), which has been increased to 12,842 during 2006-07. Out of the total enrolment, 6.45% of students belong to SC, 5.04% of students belong to ST and 10.97%belong to OBC categories. Of the total enrolled in 2006-07, 48.2 % belong to rural areas and thereby implies that the educational opportunities through the University has been moving towards the rural segment of the population. There are about 37.25% students are employed under this region.