 |
| Mr Paul I. Adie |
Paul Ingiona Adie|1 August 2017
Recently the Federal Government of Nigeria announced plans to build an ICT University, what came to mind was seriously Nigeria is set out to have the next Silicon Valley in Africa if not the World! However there are critical foundational issues that must be addressed early so that this University thrives sustainably into a purposeful future!
The first thing to do before building this ICT University is for the National Universities Commission (NUC) to review the curriculum of Computer science Departments of our Universities. The computer science departments in Nigerian Universities are still running obsolete programming languages like Fortran, Basic, Pascal, Cobol in the year 2017! When students are supposed to be good in C, C#, Blockchain, Linq, Ruby-on-Rails, Python, Java, Javascript, HTML5 and disruptive technologies like Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality etc and not outdated programming languages or packages that have little or no bearing for 21st Century Goals.
The consequence of teaching obsolete programming languages is that graduates of such departments will find themselves practically lagging behind their counterpart-graduates from professional computer training firms like APTECH, NIIT as these “their counterparts” from the “streets” seem to have acquired what the market wants in terms of currency and relevancy of computer skills. One corporate witness to this malaise is a computer programming training and recruitment firm called ANDELA funded by Mark Zuckerberg which trains computer coders with contemporary computer skills for global employability opportunities. Bureaucratic red-tapism may also be one of the challenges of this proposed ICT University because it will be very necessary the school management be dynamic in their curriculum as changes in the ICT world are happening on the minute and this has ramifications for the other sectors of the global economy thus independence of decision making of this university will really help to cut down the delay occasioned with bureaucratic red-tape.
Secondly, this ICT University must also have a serious business component that will include startup business best practices, Negotiation skills, How to prepare a and deliver a pitch, How to attract Angel Investors for you startup, Digital marketing for startups, Accounting and Business Law all customised for ICT based businesses. This is necessary because most ICT-preneurs, code developers, tech nerds often erroneously and ignorantly overlook the business half of their ICT career, thinking it is only about knowing how to code very well. When you write a computer software solution you need to sell them and make profit lest you’ll be frustrated having designed a very relevant software solution but lacking the best ideas and know how to activating your brand profitably. My emphasis on the programming aspect of ICT is because that is the area with high implications for creativity and e-nnovations that sees to the production of new technologies and solutions that can even be exported, ICT generally is a creative service based industry but as Professor Philip Emeagwali noted: The poor nations are consuming while the rich nations are manufacturing, until Africa starts exporting new knowledge, new technologies she will continue being poor!
Thirdly, such a University must prepare for population explosion as the University will eventually suffer from over population as both persons with flair for ICT and those without will flock in seeking admission, the there will be institutional challenges of inadequacy of instructional resources, teacher-student ratio and paucity of physical amenities to meet the needs of the ever rising population among others for management to grapple with, it is advisable that this proposed University think early of employing a blended learning strategy which is the part inclusion of digital based pedagogies and part inclusion of face-to-face mode of instruction so that the incidence of overpopulation can be addressed and matched effectively for meaningful learning outcomes.
Lastly, such a university should design a compulsory culture of churning out plenteous e-nnovations by her students most frequently, a very up-to-date and dynamic curriculum that is very sensitive to the changing needs of the world’s Labour market and an eye on the private professional ICT firms for strategic collaborations, insights, market gaps and inspiration!
Paul Ingiona Adie is an Educational Technologist
