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equipment and out-of-date and looted libraries, African universities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instructors and outdated academic programs that fail to meet local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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