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By
Gray Phombeah in Nairobi
BBC News
July 27, 2000
"A
university without walls" is set to offer new hope
for Africa's students who are left behind in the
scramble to join the continent's limited colleges and
universities.
It comes
with the launching, in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, of
the African Virtual University (AVU). This is a World
Bank brainchild, linking 25 sites or learning centres in
15 African countries with learning institutions in the
US, Canada and Europe, via video-conferencing and other
internet technologies. The initiative is part of an
attempt to bridge the digital divide by aiding the
digital have-nots, and broaden access to higher
education, particularly in science and technology.
"We are offering a high-tech solution to a
continent grappling with declining budgets, outdated
equipment, inadequate staff and limited space for higher
education," says Professor George Eshiwani,
vice-chancellor of Nairobi's Kenyatta University, who
will be heading the newly formed AVU International.
Degrees
After a
successful pilot year costing $6.5m, the AVU programme
is now ready to offer advanced non-degree business and
market-oriented courses later this year.
It will then expand to degree programmes from October
next year. The participating countries include Kenya,
Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Namibia, South Africa,
Rwanda and Burundi. Others are Ghana, Benin, Burkina
Faso, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Ethiopia. The
courses will be beamed via satellite from a central
uplink facility in Clarksburg, Maryland, to AVU
e-learning centres across Africa.
Real-time
interaction
Between 24
to 30 students in each centre will be sitting at their
desks watching broadcasts on large screen projectors,
television monitors or computers.
During class, the students will have real-time
interaction with their instructors, via talkback or
e-mail. Tutors will be on hand to guide students through
the course and act as liaison with course instructors.
Class preparation material and research will be
distributed over the Internet.
"If courses were offered via the Web, students
would have great difficulty accessing the material due
to extremely slow Internet connection. But the Internet
will remain an important add-on, for e-mail and
accessing course material" says Nelson Ng'ang'a,
AVU's technical co-ordinator.
Project directors in Nairobi and Washington anticipate
between 1,000 and 2,000 will begin their courses in
Information Technology and foreign languages in October
in Anglophone e-sites.
Francophone sites will follow next year, when
undergraduate degree courses in computer science and
computer engineering will be launched in all Anglophone
sites.
"The virtual classes will prove less expensive than
the physical classes," says Professor Eshiwani,
"for parents will find that virtual learning is
eliminating flights and accommodation costs and other
expenses away from home."
Worries
But there
are sceptics out there.
They see mass virtual learning or distance learning as
e-decades away in Africa. They say disappointment looms
for those seeking knowledge online or via satellite in
countries where AVU sites are yet to be launched. They
worry about the electronic wall between the instructors
and the African students, both sides representing
conflicting cultures, as harming the quality of
education that would respond to the needs of the
continent. There are fears also that as AVU tries to woo
the private sector on the continent and abroad, the
dominance of distance-learning by employer-paid
technology courses will leave no room for purely
academic pursuits.
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