ICT in Higher Education.A sub-Saharan Africa Prospective

Oxford Symposium 2014

Daria Montella

Challenges

Lack of Awareness and Know-How

“Lack of understanding of the benefit, skills and necessary software institutional guidance .For any new technology to succeed, the administration has to be in the forefront to spearhead it”.

(Kabugu A., Survey Montella, June 2013)

Lack of Infrastructure - Internet

“The band width issue should be sorted so the materials can reach the target group. The infrastructure has to be improved”.

(Ogola,P. Moran Publishers. Survey Montella, June 2013)

Piracy

“Fear of piracy also remains a major issue. Not surprisingly, publishers are hesitant to digitalize their books until digital and online content are seen to be secure from piracy and illegal distribution”.

(Zell, 2013:2)

Lack of Government Funds

“ Lack of funds especially because we depend on government funding”

(Moran Publishers , educational publisher, Survey Montella, June 2013)

“Data protection Bill 2012 is still a stumble block to the safety of the data. The government is still skeptical. An ICT policy does not recognise libraries as the entity that utilise a big chunk of bandwidth and storage in its operations. This has hampered the library e-publishing”.

“Both government and institutions of higher learning have made lots

of investments in equipment and infrastructure to support ICTs.

The government has also adopted policies to enhance development

of e-content for primary schools”.

(Maua M.,Pwani University, Survey Montella, June 2013)

(Kabugu A., University of Niroby Library, Survey Montella, June 2013)

Nigeria The Nigerian National Policy of Education

Ghana

The Ghanaian ICT in Education Policy &

The Ghana ICT for Accelerated Development Policy

Available technology

and projects

“ TEEAL database can be accessed all over the campus through the Local Area Network (LAN). To access TEEAL databases installed in the server each computer on campus must be physically configured and TEEAL index installed.The TEEAL Index is currently installed on computers in the school of Agricultural and environmental Sciences and in the students’ computer Labs.”

(Maua M.,Pwani University, Survey Montella, June 2013)

•  Awareness about OA and copyright issues•  Clear institutional policies for OA•  Coordination among academic libraries•  Strong institutional infrastructures•  Adequate funding

Mobile phone penetrationGhana

E-Learning Africa Report 2014

Mobile phone penetrationKenya

E-Learning Africa Report 2014

Nigeria

Mobile phone penetration

E-Learning Africa Report 2014

“ The possibility to distribute books on mobile devices opens up new and untapped revenue streams for publishers and enables them to monetize content in a dynamic way in a world where the mobile phone has become the most popular digital device.”

(Pieter Traut, CEO at CellBook NewswireToday,2009)

“It aims to improve the uptake and accessibility of local, contextualized research in Africa by developing strategic partnerships between research institutes and policy-makers, industry and local communities”                                                         (UKAid,2013)

The East African Marine Systems (TEAMS)

2 Mb/ps = USD 4500 per month

Reduced to USD 1000 per month

Regional collaborations

Cooperation between international and local experts

Monitoring and evaluation system

Offline materials

Workshops & seminars

Distance learning programs

Updated catalogues

Infrastructure issues

Recommendations

“University presses have to be in the forefront in adopting technology so as to be the shining examples for others”.

Petronilla Ogola

“Right now the solutions we get are not the solution we are looking for because we need more interactive solution which most service providers are not giving”.

Kabugu Aghata

“Librarians should also be enlightened that by embracing technology in publishing does not mean the end of print publishing. Print is here to stay but some scientific and technical articles should be published electronically”.

Muamua Michael