Launching the Community College scheme of IGNOU, Minister of State for HRD D Purandeswari said community colleges are alternative system of education, aimed at empowering people with skills and helping them get employment in local industries.

"The objective of the scheme is to provide appropriate skill development training to disadvantaged community through engagement of local business and industry. We aim to have 600 such community colleges in the next five years," she said.

The community college is a popular system in the US where nearly 44 per cent of students get into higher education through these institutions.

These institutions will be run by certain trusts or educational bodies with academic support from IGNOU. The students will be provided two-year courses after which they will be eligible for bachelor programmes in IGNOU.

IGNOU would act as the facilitator by designing the course curricula and syllabus. The trust and the educational body will provide the infrastructure and logistic support, IGNOU Vice Chancellor Prof V N Rajasekharan Pillai said.

At present there are about 153 community colleges in the country. These colleges encourage students, who may want to attend a three-year degree course but are not academically, personally or economically ready to begin study in the formal system.

Purandeswari said education at the community colleges is more flexible and cost-effective.    

Pillai said the university has already received 800 proposals from different educational bodies to start such community colleges. He said five per cent of people in the 20-24 years age group are able to get vocational training at present in the country.