ICT in former National University of Rwanda; the journey

Mazimpaka Olivier

Briefly about…..

• Historical background,

• ICT services in the Former National University of Rwanda .(now part of the UR)

• The ICT life in campus and,

• The use of ICT in Education, the challenges, the lessons learnt so far and the

• Suggested way forward.

• The National University of Rwanda (NUR) is Rwanda’sstate university, founded in November 3rd, 1963 asan institution of higher learning, with a mission toprovide higher education, conduct research, and offerservices to the community.

• The oldest and the largest University in the country.• Located in the Southern Province, 150 km south of

the capital city of Kigali.• It was the only publicly funded university until the

1990’s.• Closed during the 1994 genocide and reopened in

March 1995.• Able to “fully” recover from the 1994 war and

genocide and confront new challenges such asincreased access and ICT development.

The journey………

……Services

• eResources (eZproxy) [koffi.nur.ac.rw]

• eBooks [ebooks.nur.ac.rw]

• eLearning [elearn.nur.ac.rw]

• Ticketing System [otrs.nur.ac.rw] [helpdesk.nur.ac.rw]

• Password Management [webldap.nur.ac.rw]

• MIT Open Coursware [ocw.nur.ac.rw]

• Intranet Portal [intranet.nur.ac.rw]

• Timetable Service (Celtcat)

• Repository (Dspace) [repository.nur.ac.rw]

• Document Flow [cuteflow.nur.ac.rw]

• FAQ [faq.nur.ac.rw] cuteflow.nur.ac.rw

• Project Management [project.nur.ac.rw]

• Conference System [www.conference.nur.ac.rw]

• NUR Internal Email System [mail.nur.ac.rw]

• Dropbox System [dropbox.nur.ac.rw]

• Mailman for Group Email [lists.nur.ac.rw]

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“Library Thin Client

and other two Labs in

the campus are

opened for 24 Hrs”

Services Increased Communication Infrastructure

Internal Email System No Proper hardware & backup capacity No well trained technicians

Google Apps Email High Internet bandwidth Usage Acquired 35 Long-range Wavion / Alvarion Access points.

Internal Email System (HORDE) Proper Email Server with Redundancy Backups (Tape) & Network Storage Trained Technicians Improved bandwidth Usage Improved internal communication Use Google Apps for Backup

6

Network is secured from Virus and worms

Purchased Kaspersky Antivirus for 10,000 users with 2 years

renewable license

Complaints regarding data loss due to virus is reduced less than 2

% from 80% from the users (Staff & Researchers)

All the Lab & staff computers are installed with internet access

(though not enough computers and rooms)

Web Services have been secured by moving most of the HTTP

services to HTTPS

NAGIOS – Network Monitoring Tool

CACTI – Bandwidth Management Tool

LDAP – Single Source of Database

NSDB – Network Management (Utilizing 50% of its functions)

Improved Internet Connectivity (From 2 to 57 Mbps)

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Down 2 2 6 6 6 17 57

Up 0,76 0,76 2 2 2 17 57

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Ban

dw

idth

in M

bp

s

…….and currently to 83mbps

Student Satisfaction

Very Good8%Good

30%

Ok50% Poor

7%

Very Poor5%

Other12%

Students Satisfaction on Wireless Services

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Source: Memoir (BIT-2011) Evaluation of ICT Services offered to the NUR Community

by ICT Center – Student Perception on Wireless Usage

Challenges Despite the above undisputed comparative advantages, the NUR

has however to overcome challenges : • The curricula are still too fragmented and subject-oriented,

and the teaching is still too teacher centered with little room for student self-directed learning

• The infrastructure is overstretched by the increased number of students and equipment does not match research needs.

• Though ICT penetration has reached an acceptable level, access to computers, internet connectivity, and usage of ICT in education and research have not yet reached a satisfactory level.

• No staff retention mechanism: ICT Center staff Turn over : From 46 in 2012 to 25 in 2014….and most of times with new recruitments…

Visits to Electronic Services @ NUR

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

eBooks eJournals eLearn NUR Mail System

NUR Website

OCW Password Managemen

t

SRS

2011* 972 2,137 20,689 21,212 256,486 32,788 7,761 18,243

2010 805 55 30,259 0 303,505 89,312 2,498 19,287

2009 0 0 2,886 0 35,648 14,479 0 0

Pe

rce

nta

ge o

f V

isit

s

Services

2009 2010 2011*

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Thinking about One University

• To interconnect all Colleges we need: – A team.....(in progress)– Policies and implementation strategy– “Demystifying” the ICT– A University backbone– Local Network on each– Exchange point– Data center– Disaster Recovery data center– Technical Staff development– Staff retention mechanism– Etc....

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