Higher Education Executive ProgrammeHigher Education Executive Programme for Finance and ICT

Prioritizing Higher Education ICT Connectivity: A SARUA P tiSARUA Perspective

ICT Infrastructure and Connectivity – A SARUA Perspective

• ICT infrastructure and connectivity in higher education in Southern Africa is not an end in itself, but a means to an end – often, several ends…

• Greater collaboration among the academic community in Southern Africa, not only in Southern African but also the rest of the worldSouthern African, but also the rest of the world

• Making knowledge produced in Southern Africa, by African researchers and scientists based at our institutions available for the purposes of achieving broader development goals and more immediately, for the purposes of improving teaching, further research and community engagement

• We recognise that knowledge sharing of this kind is at the heart of science, technology and innovation

• For these reasons SARUA identified ICT connectivity management and Open For these reasons, SARUA identified ICT connectivity, management and Open Access is a priority right at its inception, and its initial programme of work focused on:

• Commissioning research to better understand (1) the prospect of using optical fibre for education and research networks in East and Southern Africa; and (2) a review of ICTs in Universities in the SADC region

• Working with partners such as the UbuntuNet Alliance to facilitate access to bandwidth in member universities

• Engage in research and advocacy for open access across higher education in the regionregion

ICT Infrastructure and Connectivity – A SARUA Perspective

• Our role in this programme of work has been primarily as:

• Advocate – making the case for increased investment and capacity development in the areas of ICT infrastructure development and management on campus, and creating awareness of the need for greater bandwidth and connectivityawareness of the need for greater bandwidth and connectivity

• Convener – bringing together stakeholders to share ideas, experiences and encouraging shared responsibility for addressing pressing needs and challenges

• Coordinator – where the limits of institutional mandates and national competency limit the possibility for regional impact, SARUA coordinates activities through interaction p y g p , gwith members and bodies at the regional level

• Advisor – research/ evidence based advise on specific topics

ICT Infrastructure and Connectivity – A SARUA Perspective

• Priorities in the current strategic plan:

• Development of a regional higher education identity

• Platform for collaboration, networking, linkages and partnerships

• Improving the knowledge on the trends in higher education development in the region

• Programme of work

• Continue to support the work of specialist organisations such as UbuntuNet Alliance and the work undertaken to establish national and regional research and education networks

• Increasing the visibility of research and scientific activity of the higher education community in the region

• Value of visibility – it is the starting point for accessing and utilising existing knowledge for furthering development, it is the starting point for the socialisation, not only of the knowledge produced, but also the knowledge production processes in the region

ICT Infrastructure and Connectivity – A SARUA Perspective

• Key initiatives being incubated:

• Science mapping database consisting of:

• (1) policies and strategies;

• (2) organisations;

• (3) societies, associations and academies; and

• (4) scientific publications

Southern Africa has very limited visibility in internationally recognised and • Southern Africa has very limited visibility in internationally recognised and accredited channels of scholarly communication – yet we produce much more than is visible

• Database is aimed at capturing research output both formal and informal

SARUA Leadership Dialogue

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SARUA Leadership Dialogue

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ICT Infrastructure and Connectivity – A SARUA Perspective

• Key initiatives:

• Collaboration management database consisting of:

• Map and build a typology of higher education collaboration in SADC;

• Active countries and institutions;

• Field of study/ topics

• Types/models of collaboration (research, teaching, exchange, etc)g , )

• Contact information of partners

• Direct dissemination of opportunities and information (mailing list)

• Enhance networking and exchange on the ground• About the collaboration:

• Project type (research, teaching/training, outreach, moderation, etc)

• Title, Website, Discipline• Project content:

• Aim/objective (descriptive)

• Method and Sources (descriptive)

• Activities/Outputs (incl. publications)

• Keywords

• Start date & End date (if any)• Start date & End date (if any)

• Funding source(s), date(s) awarded and amount(s), if any

• Activity: Active, In planning, Completed, Inactive

ICT Infrastructure and Connectivity – A SARUA Perspective

Regional Representation of

African Partners (top 25 of 36 countries) p

partners

ZimbabweNigeriaMalawi

NamibiaUganda

BotswanaKenya

African Partners per Region*

SenegalGhana

MozambiqueCameroon

ZambiaEthiopia

Tanzaniabab e

Southern Africa

Eastern Africa

p g

AlgeriaGabon

LesothoSwaziland

MoroccoSudan

Burkina FasoSenegal

Western Africa

Southern Africa

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

AngolaGambia

MaliTunisiaAlgeria

Middle Africa

Northern Africa

• Most African partners are located in Eastern and Southern Africa, with Kenya, Botswana and Uganda collectively comprising 30% of all our African partners.

0 50 100 150 200

• SADC partners comprise 45% of all African partners

*Southern Africa and SADC exclude SA partners

Collaboration Types Projects by Scientific Area

Research

Teaching

M d ti / E i ti

Natural Sciences & EngineeringM di l & H lthModeration/ Examination

Member of Board

Capacity development

Community Interaction

Institutional Agreement

Medical & Health SciencesHuman Sciences

E i S iHumanities

Arts

Projects by Discipline

• Collaboration types show emphasis on research collaboration, followed by joint teaching

Technologies & Applied SciencesMedical Sciences: Basic

Medical Sciences: ClinicalHealth SciencesSocial Sciences

Economic Sciences

• Thematic distribution of programmes/linkages show equal distribution amongst broad scientific areas with emphasis on agriculture, h iti / i l i d di l Chemical Sciences

Earth & Marine SciencesInformation & Computer Sciences

Mathematical SciencesPhysical Sciences

Engineering Sciencesg pp

humanities/ social sciences and medical sciences Agricultural Sciences

Biological SciencesChemical Sciences

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

ICT Infrastructure and Connectivity – A SARUA Perspective

• Key initiatives:

• Collaboration management database consisting of:

• Design of multi-institution database

• Hosted on central server

• Clarify confidentiality issues

• Access procedures by role

Pilot phase• Pilot phase

• Develop web-interface (6 months)

• Implement in 3 or 4 SADC universities, training for data collection, data capture (12 months)

E l ti d f th ll t• Evaluation and further roll-out

ICT Infrastructure and Connectivity – A SARUA Perspective

• Conclusion

• These types of initiatives can only be sustainable if developed on a web platform that can be accessed by members to maintain information

• This assumes basic ICT infrastructure and connectivity, the purpose of today’s discussion

• If you are interested in being a part of this initial development process in regard to the science mapping and collaboration management database, please let us know…