Division of Distance Education in 1986, soon after the establishment of IGNOU in 1985 to cater to the training needs of various functionaries of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU).

Later, based on the proposal by Commonwealth of Learning (COL), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India, the Division of Distance Education of IGNOU was upgraded into the Staff Training and Research Institute of Distance Education (STRIDE) in 1993 to set up a training and research institute for distance education in the South Asian Region.

STRIDE has been conducting training and research activities for IGNOU, State Open Universities (SOUs) and distance education institutes in India as well as serving the distance education training, research and capacity building needs of the Asian, African and the Caribbean countries (around 45 countries). More than 500 major training programmes have been conducted by STRIDE since 1985. Also around 40 major research projects have been completed by STRIDE.