eGyanKosh: How to Find and Download IGNOU Study Material

What eGyanKosh is

eGyanKosh is a National Digital Repository that stores, indexes, preserves and shares the digital learning resources of open and distance learning institutions in India. IGNOU runs it, and most of what students use it for is the university’s Self Learning Material, the same blocks and units that make up your printed course books.

What you will find inside

The home page splits eGyanKosh into six “communities”. Students mostly need the second one, but the others are worth knowing about.

The home page also has quick links to the e-study material for CBCS bachelor’s programmes, such as BA General in different subjects, BA Honours, BSc, BCom General and BA (Vocational) Tourism Management.

How the study material is organised

Once you fully understand the folder order, finding any unit takes under a minute. Self Learning Material is filed in this sequence:

Here is a real example from the site, for the MBA course on business communication:

The 22 schools listed on eGyanKosh

You need to know which school runs your programme. The prefix in your programme guide or fee receipt usually tells you, but this list matches the order on the site:

Inside the School of Management Studies, for instance, programmes are grouped as Bachelor’s Degree, Certificate, Diploma / Post Graduate Diploma and Master’s Degree. Other schools follow the same idea.

Method 1: Browse to your unit

Use this when you want to see the whole course at once, for example to download every block before exams.

1. Open egyankosh.ac.inClick IGNOU Self Learning Material (SLM) on the home page.
2. Pick your schoolChoose the school that offers your programme, such as 07. School of Management Studies for MBA or MCom.
3. Open “Levels”Select your programme level: Bachelor’s, Master’s, Diploma / PG Diploma or Certificate.
4. Choose Current or ArchivedStart with Current. The section on Current vs Archived below explains when to look in the other folder.
5. Open your programmeRead the names carefully. The same programme can appear several times, for example “MBA”, “MBA-New”, “MBA-Hindi” and “MBA (Odia)”.
6. Open the semester or yearThen click the course code you need.
7. Open a blockEach block lists its units with the issue year and author. The block also has its own entry, which holds the block’s introductory pages.
8. Open a unit and downloadUnder “Files in This Item”, click View/Open next to the PDF. The file opens in your browser, where you can save it.

Method 2: Search by course code (the fastest way)

The search box at the top of every eGyanKosh page accepts course codes. Typing MMPC-007, for example, returned 19 results when we checked, including both the English course “Business Communication” and its Hindi version.

1. Type the exact course codeCopy it from your programme guide, including the hyphen and any leading zeros (MMPC-007, not MMPC7).
2. Look at the collection name under each resultIt tells you which programme and medium the item belongs to.
3. Open the course or block entryFrom there, work down to the unit PDFs as in Method 1.

Method 3: Browse by title, contributor, subject or date

The Browse menu at the top gives four extra ways in:

• Title: an alphabetical list of every item. Useful if you remember a unit’s name but not its course.
• Contributor: everything written by one author or editor.
• Subject: items tagged with a subject heading, such as Economics or Philosophy.
• Issue Date: items arranged by the year they were published.

Reading a unit page

Every unit has its own page with a permanent link. It shows:

• Title, for example “Unit-4 Forms of Communication at Workplace”
• Contributors: the unit writer or editor
• Issue Date: the year that version was published
• Publisher: Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi
• Files in This Item: the downloadable files with their size and format

On the MMPC-007 unit we checked, the PDF was listed as “Reading Material, 2.7 MB, Adobe PDF”, and the same page also offered two audio-book files for that unit. Not every course has audio books, but it is worth looking on the unit page before you assume there are none.

Current vs Archived material

Inside each programme level you will see two folders. Current holds the material for programmes as they run now. Archived keeps older versions of programmes whose syllabus or structure has since changed.

Programme names ending in “-New” usually mark a revised structure. If your course code appears under both an old and a new programme, compare the block and unit titles with the printed books or the programme guide you received at admission. Those are the ones your assignments and exams are based on.

Hindi and other mediums

Material in other languages sits in separate collections rather than inside the English ones. In the School of Management Studies, for example, you will find “MBA-Hindi” and “MBA (Odia)” next to the English MBA, and the CBCS links on the home page include Hindi, English and Urdu options for BA General.

When you search by course code, Hindi results appear with Hindi titles (MMPC-007 shows up as “व्यावसायिक संप्रेषण”), so scan the full result list before deciding a course is not available in your medium.

Using eGyanKosh on your phone

The website works in any mobile browser, but large PDFs are easier to manage through IGNOU’s official IGNOU e-Content app. The eGyanKosh home page links to it on the Google Play Store. Download it only from the official Play Store listing linked on egyankosh.ac.in, not from APK websites.

What is not on eGyanKosh

Students often look on eGyanKosh for things IGNOU publishes elsewhere. Use this table to go straight to the right place:

Common problems and how to fix them

The PDF will not open

Some unit files are several megabytes. Let the page finish loading, or right-click View/Open and save the file, then open it from your downloads folder.

I cannot find my course

Search by the exact course code first. If nothing comes up, check the Archived folder, the “-New” version of your programme, and the collection for your medium. Some courses run under more than one programme, so the code may sit under a programme name you do not expect.

A unit is listed but there is no file

A small number of items are catalogued without a file attached. The site’s own filter shows roughly 1,500 such items in the study material section. In that case, check whether the same course appears under another programme or medium, and rely on your printed books for that unit.

The site is slow

eGyanKosh gets heavy traffic before assignment deadlines and term-end exams. Download your units early in the session, one block at a time, and keep a copy on your device.

Getting the most out of unit PDFs

• Match assignment questions to units. Most assignment questions are built around specific units. Note the block and unit next to each question before you start writing.
• Use the self-check questions. Most IGNOU units include short “Check Your Progress” exercises, with model answers at the end of the unit. They are a quick way to test yourself.
• Keep one folder per course. Name files by course code, block and unit (for example MMPC-007_B1_U4.pdf) so revision is quick.
• Read the block introduction. The block’s own entry explains how its units fit together, which helps with long-answer questions.

Copyright and fair use

eGyanKosh states that its items are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved by IGNOU unless shown otherwise. You can read and download them for your own study. Selling them, re-uploading them to other websites, or passing them off as your own work is not permitted. When you quote a unit in an assignment or project, mention the course code, block, unit and IGNOU as the source.

Official links

Related guides on IGNOU Galaxy: how to write IGNOU assignments and the IGNOU exam pattern.