ANB-BIA SUPPLEMENT

ISSUE/EDITION Nr 328 - 15/07/1997

Africa

Towards a world of virtual universities

by Yacinthe Diene, Dakar, Senegal, 20 April 1997

THEME = EDUCATION

INTRODUCTION

About thirty universities (French and English- speaking)
are using state-of-the-art technology so as not miss out in the 21st century

In the next century, higher education will be completely different from what it is today, since the economic, social, cultural and technological environment on which it was based will undergo profound changes. Academic authorities and African experts have already defined the stakes and the challenges, in order to prepare for the future and step forward into the 3rd millennium.
The World Bank and the Sheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD) organized for universities in 11 African countries, a Training Workshop on the African Virtual University (UAV). The Workshop was held in Dakar, 7-10 April 1997 and showed that concerned people are aware of the crises prevailing in most African universities. In order to avoid being marginalized at a scientific and technical level, 13 East African universities are already connected to the UAV, and a further 17 French-speaking universities will be, at the beginning of the next university term.

Benefits of the virtual university

The UAV is an innovation in the university world - one new approach among others to supplement traditional teaching methods. It is a preferred tool for the on-going process of university globalization, and a milestone in the networking of the African universities.
In the opinion of Professor Suleiman Niang, Rector of UCAD: "The UAV is an important tool, which will allow the UCAD to provide students and teachers with visual mobility". No university, even the most prestigious, can stand alone, since there is no substitute for inter-university cooperation in research. For decision-makers, this new form of distance-learning is an effective means of:
- reversing the one-way process of university cooperation, from the North to the South. Later on, it can be used to develop South-South exchanges
- improving the training of a much greater number of students, increasing the staff and quality of higher education, in which, it is admitted, Africa lags far behind.
Referring to the above, Mr. Edward Joycox, formerly vice-president and now an adviser to the president of the World Bank, said in a press statement: "The UAV will be a leap forward for Africa.
The continent must make every effort not to miss the boat". With virtual learning, the initiators of this project hope to step outside the physical and geographical boundaries of the universities. How will this be achieved?
1) A lecturer's course, registered at any university, may be followed simultaneously in Europe, the USA, in Asia, in Africa, or indeed, anywhere in the world. The students, for their part, will be able to communicate directly with the lecturer, however far apart they are.
2) Students and teachers will be able to access a large number of libraries, and look up works and documents at the same time, without telescoping or replacing pages or chapters, as is often the case.
The UAV is not a new network being created, but is making use of existing technology and the Internet, so as to meet the needs of African universities. This remote learning system is intended mainly to make up lost time for universities in Africa, in offering the best possible higher education conditions together with traditional teaching methods.

Recommendations

Africa's academic authorities have responded favourably to the World Bank's call, since distance learning has become a necessity for any institute of higher education, wishing to train or help its students achieve the peak of knowledge and understanding.
However, some African universities not associated with the study project, have certain reservations. Because of this, the Dakar Training Workshop came up with a number of recommendations to enable the UAV integrate smoothly with the various education systems in the receiving countries. (It must be remembered that the courses will initially be given by western universities). Particular requests were:
1) That the UAV should be complementary and not competing with the real university, to overcome inadequacies of the traditional system, which is going through a difficult patch.
2) The programmes are modular, allowing structures to be developed, and the proficiency of students or teachers to be enhanced, by developing solid skills in leading-edge technologies.
3) That costs of equipment and registration fees should be within the reach of universities and of average African families who have financial difficulties; so that the project is not restricted to an élite.
4) That measures should be taken to avoid a two-speed higher education process: i.e. students registered with the UAV, and those with their own university.
5) That African researchers get down to producing quality scientific work, so that their colleagues in the North come to them for information, and they are not always on the receiving end.
With the help of the World Bank, the virtual university is coming into higher education in Africa. Henceforth, higher education will occupy a favoured spot on the information highway, showing that technology is at the service of knowledge and understanding.
From now on, the ball is in the court of the researchers, who must demonstrate their ability to contribute to Africa's development. They must make their work (theses, dissertations, and anything else) available by putting it on all the existing networks. The move towards the UAV seems to be unavoidable.

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