Emerging trends in ICT education Meoli Kashorda, Ph.D

1
Emerging trends in ICT education

• Meoli Kashorda, Ph.D., MIEEE, MIET
• Professor, Faculty of Information Technology
• Strathmore University

2
Agenda

• Terminology
• IT or ICT? Used interchangeably
• What is driving demand for ICT education in Kenya
• ICT industry performance?
• Knowledge economy?
• ICT for Development (ICT4D)?
• Analyzing ICT education trends using a layered
  approach
• Some professional accreditation issues

3
What are Information Technologies?

• Big IT vs. Small it terms
• Big IT accepted by accreditation boards, IT
  professional associations, and academic community
• Big IT An Umbrella term
• Computer science, information systems, computer
  engineering and software engineering, and
  electronic engineering (including
  telecommunications)
• Small it Emerging IT degree programs
• No global accreditation standards yet!

4
ICT degrees in Kenya
5
Developing IT Workforce or IT professionals?

• Both IT workforce and IT professionals required
• IT workforce
• Universities in Kenya now offer general IT
  courses
• IT professionals
• Developed in specialized IT degree programs (IT,
  EE, CS, IS)

6
What is driving demand for ICT professional
education in Kenya?

• Demand by the students?
• Career Perceptions, Peer pressure, IT is cool
  or real market data?
• Demand by local ICT industry?
• Growth of telecoms sector, Local IT systems,
  Global demand for ICT graduates?
• How are universities responding?
• Using market analysis data? Regional or Global
  demands? Students perceptions?

7
Convergence of telecommunications computing

• Convergence of applications and services
• Networked applications everywhere
• Convergence of industries
• Telecommunications, broadcasting, and computing
  industries
• Convergence of regulation
• See proposed Kenya ICT bill
• Convergence of degree programs or greater
  specialization?

8
Source World Bank Institute
9
Knowledge Economy Index
10
So What ICT degree program is best?

• What advice for students?
• Bias of faculty? newspaper ads? Quality of
  programs? JAB
• What advice to universities?
• No market analysis data, no explicit ICT
  education policy
• What degree programs?
• What advice to government and industry?
• What is our ICT capacity? What should it be?

11
Use the Open Networking Model
12
Interconnection layer education

• Layers 1 2 of the OSI or Internet Layered
  models
• Supports classical telecommunication services
  (POTS, ISDN, Mobile, ADSL and associated data
  pipes) computing hardware
• Electronic / computer engineering programs cover
  Interconnection layer knowledge elements
• Very specialized labs and faculty required
• High demand because of infrastructure expansion
  in Kenya
• Industry-university partnerships and linkages
  essential

13
Internetworking layer

• Internet technology will dominate all
  internetworking at this layer
• Teaching the TCP/IP protocol suite does not need
  advanced equipment
• Network management and new protocols for voice
  and video services (VoD and VoIP)
• Computer science, computer engineering, and
  electronic engineering, IT/IS degree programs
  necessary
• Is Cisco certification necessary?
• Are our University qualifications credible?

14
Middleware

• Interoperability will continue to be very
  important for different applications
• Network Security issues
• Distributed processing environment (grid
  computing)
• Knowledge acquired in computer science, software
  engineering and some IT/IS degree programs.
• Advanced programming techniques and environments
  required.

15
Networked Applications

• Applications layer represents the greatest
  opportunity for Kenya!
• Which graduates will create the applications for
  developing countries?
• Computer science, Information systems, IT, and
  software engineering, and electronic engineering
  graduates?
• Are our institutions ready?

16
Mobile and wireless applications

• Innovations in mobile applications in high demand
  in Africa
• Pre-paid service an African innovation
• Emerging SMS applications
• Mobile Internet applications
• Mobile e-commerce and e-learning applications
• Applications in tourism and agriculture?
• High level of software development proficiency
  required
• Certification of software developers and software
  houses!
• Incubate software development companies

17
What are additional IT graduate exit
requirements?

• Communication skills oral and written
• This is a challenge globally
• Basic business and management skills
• Economics, accounting and finance
• Business organizations and planning
• Team building and Ethical practices
• Project design, implementation, and management
  skills
• Based on current needs mobile computing,
  networking, new software environments, CAD.

18
Are our graduates and universities ready?

• Do we have world-class specialized ICT labs?
• Do we have world class ICT faculty
• Anecdotal data suggests there is a severe
  shortage of doctoral-level ICT faculty
• Are our campuses fully networked?
• What about low Internet speeds?

19
How will ICT students be learning in future?

• Global Internet essential for degree and
  life-long learning
• Expect increased use of asynchronous learning
  networks and e-learning platforms
• Increased use of CAD and simulation environments
• Increased use of Virtual labs (see See the MIT
  iLabs project)
• More IT students will focus on the upper layers
• More jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities

20
Current IT faculty and Infrastructure challenges

• Limited active IT faculty pool in Kenya
• Lack of sufficient number of PhDs in IT in Kenya
• IT faculty are portable and are in high
  demand globally
• High cost of building and maintaining specialized
  IT labs to support IT programs
• Universities in the US are investing millions of
  dollars in laboratory facilities!!
• Adopt the Indian Centers of Excellence Model?

21
Networked Readiness Index 2004 and 2005 Ranks
But quality of ICT graduates must be similar For
competitiveness!
Source World Economic Forum ICT Reports
22
The E-campus innovation

• It is an information systems enabled campus
• High degree of e-readiness for developing IT
  workforce and professionals
• Information systems Information Technology
  People Processes
• Networked Applications for teaching, learning and
  educational administration
• World-class learning environment low NRI
  notwithstanding!

23
Quality and professional accreditation of ICT
degrees

• International IT educational standards
• Professional bodies accredit IT departments
  (e.g., IEEE, IEE, ACM)
• Not aware of any EE CS programs in Kenya with
  international accreditation
• Professional accreditation necessary for global
  IT quality assurance
• CHE provides institutional accreditation for
  private universities only

24
Opportunities for ICT graduates in Kenya and
Africa!

• Kenyan and African customized applications do not
  yet exist?
• E-government applications need to be customized
  for Kenya and other countries
• Customized applications in agriculture, tourism
  and education will be in high demand
• Development environments will be setup in the
  government and in the private sector
• Demand for IT professionals with application
  development skills will increase
• Local/Global ICT jobs for the well prepared!

25
END
Thank You!