AFRO-NETS> Internet may aid Africa Colleges

Internet may aid Africa Colleges
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         By ABEBE ANDUALEM Associated Press Writer

           ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) - Plagued by slim budgets, broken down
        equipment and out-of-date and looted libraries, African universities
        may soon receive a lifeline from cyberspace.

           Under a pilot project to be launched in April by the World Bank,
        10 universities in six nations will be connected through the African
        Virtual University - a computer link via satellite to universities
        in Europe and the United States.

           The first phase of the project was worked out at a recent
        workshop in Addis Ababa attended by academics from eight African
        countries and representatives from universities and donor agencies
        in the United States and Ireland.

           The World Bank says the project's main objective is to tap new
        information technologies to overcome the many financial and physical
        barriers that prevent students at African colleges from gaining
        access to quality higher education.

           The bank, which is contributing $1.2 million, says most African
        universities have become increasingly irrelevant in a rapidly
        changing world, graduating a disproportionate number of students in
        the humanities rather than the sciences and engineering.

           Edward Jaycox, a senior adviser to World Bank President James
        Wolfensohn, said African universities are facing enormous
        difficulties, including declining budgets, lack of qualified
        instructors and outdated academic programs that fail to meet local
        needs.

           Making use of computer networks linking Africa to the West,
        participating universities in the United States and Ireland will
        provide packaged academic programs, particularly in science,
        engineering and business.

           During the pilot phase, a limited number of first-year
        undergraduate courses - calculus, differential equations, physics,
        electronic circuits, statistics, introduction to the Internet and
        introduction to computer sciences - will be offered via video
        transmissions, Internet links and other means such as e-mail.

           Etienne Baranshamaje, the World Bank's project manager, said the
        African Virtual University will be a network of Internet facilities
        and its own Web site.

           "In those countries where an Internet service provider exists, a
        formula for working with them will be sought. Where there is none,
        AVU will initiate one for the students," he said.

           More and more African countries are setting up Internet services.
        Ethiopia will go online soon through the government
        telecommunications office, while private concerns provide Internet
        links in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

           Baranshamaje said that during the first two semesters of the
        project, there will not be any specific Virtual University students.
        Rather, selected students enrolled in existing university courses
        will receive instruction and take exams via the new technology.

           During this phase of the project, tests and paper-grading will be
        the responsibility of the participating universities in Ethiopia,
        Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Ghana. The lectures will be
        delivered from universities in the United States and Ireland.

           A second phase to begin next January will offer a complete
        curriculum for full-fledged undergraduate degree programs through
        the Virtual University. If all goes well, African universities also
        will be originating their own programs in the final phase,
        Baranshamaje said.

           Other universities across Africa are expected to be included at a
        later stage, Baranshamaje said.

           The Virtual University is expected to be particularly relevant in
        African countries like Ethiopia that are emerging from prolonged
        wars and whose work forces lack vital technical skills.

           Governments and private sector organizations in need of
        continuous professional training for their employees are also
        expected to benefit.

           The University of Massachusetts and the New Jersey Institute of
        Technology in the United States and University College Galway in
        Ireland are among the American and Irish institutions participating.

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