1. education
2. school

By Professor Barineme Beke Fakae
Table of Content
Chapter One
The Challenge... resisting the risks and costs of comfortable inaction
There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are less than the long-range risks and
costs of comfortable inaction.
J.F Kennedy
We live in a world full of challenges; from environmental sustainability to security; from organizational inefficiencies to corruption; from information overload to disease; from transportation to communication. All of these challenges inherently point out to solutions and opportunities for people to make or create a positive impact in the world we live in. Creating a positive impact in the world we live in has distinguished acclaimed world heroes and innovators like our dear Steve Jobs that just passed on, from others. Our story in the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (Nigeria’s premier university of science and technology) was not any different four (4) years ago when this administration assumed office. We saw the challenges and we earnestly sort for solutions that will make a remarkable, positive impact. Today, we seek to share the common challenge(s) in effective and efficient university administration and management; and the modest solutions we have been able to proffer through two main fronts namely:  Resisting the risks and costs of comfortable inaction  Re‐instituting sustainable university administration and management through ICT. Introduction The presentation in this chapter is a vivid
description of the state of affairs in the
Rivers State University of Science and
Technology (RSUST) with regards to
students’ records.
Until the implementation of the electronic
system and hosting of university’s portal,
business was as usual students’ records
fraught with errors that emanated from
inconsistencies in the computation of
matriculation numbers, course codes and
units, test/examination scores and results
and many more issues that are prevalent
with manually handling too many records
without a proper database system.
It was on the heels of all these that the
present administration sought for a way
out through the introduction of an all
encompassing
portal
to
handle
university’s administration for:
a. Application
processes
into
programmes
b. Admission/registration processes
for fresh students
c. Payment of school fees
Figure 1: Live online results of a student
4|Page
d. Course registration processes for
returning students
e. Course assignment processes for
heads of departments
f. Result imputation processes for
lecturers
g. Computation of students’ results
h. Migration of existing manual
records
i. Report
generation
tool
for
management
j. Database
administration
and
monitoring tool for administrators,
etc.
k. Email service for students and staff
by Microsoft
l. News update on academic and
administrative activities
It is worthy of note that the consultant
that was hired before the present
consultant took over, left without any
record for the university and the ICT unit.
Online Results ‘Palaver’ The first stage of the implementation was
the migration of students’ manual results
to the electronic platform. This first phase
met with various discrepancy in students’
matriculation numbers. It was so alarming
that the consultants had to call for help
from the registry of the university.
Though this challenge has been tackled to
a great extent, some students still share
the same matriculation numbers, with one
being differentiated by a trailing “x”. For
example:
DE.2006/0384 and
DE.2006/0384x belong to two (2) different
students. This issue was minimal when
compared to the indiscriminate use of
course titles codes, units, etc as observed
in some departments.
When the Senate Assessment &
Graduation Committee (A&GRC) agreed
to the migration of results for all the
students currently in the institution, it was
strictly to ensure that all irregularities
often seen in the manual system were laid
to rest.
A detailed plan was thus
developed for the migration and cleaning
of data. Given the level irregularities, this
was planned to last through out the
2008/2009 session without disruptions.
Some measures were taken to ensure a
smooth running of the migration process.
These include the following:
Student verification exercise: this was
done to determine the actual number of
students in the school and also to filter out
the number of impersonators. Thereafter,
their individual data were migrated to the
new platform (the electronic platform)
which enabled them to make payments
for all necessary fees and carry out
various registration activities.
Capacity development for lecturers; they
were trained on how to enter scores and
use this system.
This was gladly
welcomed by lecturers with faint
understanding on how the system works.
5|Page
At the end of the exams, lecturers moved
to the IT Centre and entered their results
online.
With only 2007/2008 results
online, it became necessary to properly
migrate all students’ academic records of
the academic sessions preceding the
2007/2008 session as to enable students
carry out proper online course registration
processes during the 2008/2009 session.
The result migration process suffered
some setbacks due to inefficiency on the
part of some administrative staff that were
in charge of ensuring that students’
academic records were properly kept.
Some of the challenges with few examples
made available are thus:
Inconsistent Grades The ICT unit and the consultants had
serious issues with conflicting grades as
most students were assigned grades for
courses that had already been passed in a
previous session. It was also observed that
some students who had reference courses
according to the records but did not
rewrite them were placed on clear
standing (CS). This amounted to serious
problems as most of the students
presently claiming to be on clear standing
fell into this category. Below are a few
instances from the numerous issues:
a. In Agric Engineering Year 3,
2005/2006 First Semester result,
Student
DE.2002/0131
and
DE.2002/0155 had another set of
grades in courses (AEC211 and
MTH305 respectively), in Year 4 of
2006/2007 Session.
b. In Petroleum Engineering Year 1,
2005/2006 Second Semester results,
student DE.2005/0708 had another
grade in ENG112 in Year 2, 2006/2007
Session.
Varying Versions of Result: This is a situation where different versions
of a particular departmental result were
submitted to the ICT unit and the
consultants. One of such cases is shown
below:
In the first submission of year one
students’ results for the 2006/2007
academic session, a student with serial
number 30 in Business Education
(Management Option) was graded ‘F’ in
BED111 which was known as ABS. In the
second submission of the result, this
particular student’s grade in the same
course was observed to have been
upgraded to an ‘E’. It was however
noticed that this particular department’s
result had several of such cases.
When departments have more than one
version of a semester or session’s results,
the version submitted to the ICT unit
might indicate that a student was
awarded an “F” in a course but another
version which the student might have
seen earlier shows that the student was
awarded a “B”. It is only when the
student reports this through the online
“Post Comment” link or in writing to the
help desk that issues of this nature can be
looked into with the help of the
department and the needed correction
effected. The question then is: how come
a department has more than one version
of a semester’s or session’s result?
6|Page
The Case of Matriculation Numbers: This case can be compared only to an eye
sore. Some result sheets were submitted
without matriculation numbers for most
students
while
some
who
had
matriculation numbers were given wrong
matriculation numbers that either did not
exist or belonged to another student.
There were also issues of students
simultaneously sharing matriculation
numbers; and since the matriculation
number uniquely identifies a student, one
of the parties ends up having no academic
records. A few instances from the
numerous issues are as follows:
a. In Business Education (Accountancy
option) 2005/2006 Year 3 First
Semester, Serial numbers 306 and 309
shared
the
same
matriculation
number.
b. Accountancy 2004/2005 Year 1
First/Second
Semester
results
contained only the names of the
students
without
matriculation
numbers.
c. In Banking and Finance 2006/2007
Year 3 Second Semester, Serial
numbers 227 and 269 had conflicting
matriculation numbers.
d. The student with serial number 40 in
Business Education 2006/2007 Second
semester
results
claimed
DE.2004/0504 as his matriculation
number whereas, on the hard copy of
the result, the matriculation number
against the student’s name is
DE.2004/4065.
e. Serial number 13 in Chemistry,
2006/2007 Year 3 Second Semester
result had a wrong matriculation
number.
f.
Serial number 172 in Petroleum
Engineering 2005/2006 First Semester
Year 2 results had DE.2005/3883 as his
matriculation number whereas in the
2006 /2007 second semester year three
(3) result of the same department, his
matriculation number was changed to
DE.2004/3883 whereas his real
matriculation
number
is
DE.2004/3383.
Conflicting Course Codes This is a situation where a course code is
used to represent a particular course in a
particular session and is still used to
represent an entirely different course in
another session; or in some other cases
which seemed to be more frequent,, a
particular course code is changed but
made to keep its course title.
For example:
In the Faculty of Agriculture, department
of Fisheries FAE200 was interchanged
with FIS200, and FAE340 with FAE341. In
most cases, the course codes were
changed entirely like that of FAE315 that
was changed to FAE311, FAE313 to
FAE310, FAE331 to FAE330, etc
a. Petroleum Engineering had MTH104,
MTH105, MTH201, MTH202, MTH301
and
MTH302
as
Engineering
Mathematics course codes instead of
MTH105,
MTH106,
MTH205,
MTH206, MTH305 and MTH306.
Omission of Results It was observed that some pages of the
result sheet were missing while some
serial numbers were skipped in the entire
result sheet. This made it possible for
some students to have incomplete results.
7|Page
Listed below are a few instances from the
numerous issues:
a. In Chemistry, 2006/2007 Year 3
Second Semester result, serial number
58 (Oziegbe Joseph: DE.2004/3427)
was omitted.
b. Twelve (12) students (serial numbers
103-115) on Petroleum Engineering
2004/2005 Year 1 Second Semester
result were omitted on the result sheet
submitted to the ICT unit which was
given to the consultants.
c. Serial numbers 10-14 on Accountancy;
2005/2006, Year 1 Second Semester
result were omitted on First Semester
result sheet.
Unfinished and Delay in Result Submission Some faculties find it difficult to readily
make results available as at when due.
This
made
result
gathering
and
computation more of a nightmare than a
pleasurable task that is part and parcel of
the University system.
Blank Result There were cases of students whose
names and matriculation numbers were
on the results sheets but do not have any
awarded grades in courses which they
must have written tests/examinations.
Currently, the consultants are receiving
complaints through the online Post
Comments link on the web portal from
such students about omission of results. A
case is serial number 75 in Computer
Engineering, 2006/2007 Year 2 First
Semester results where a blank result was
given to Samuel Gift Allison whereas she
claims to have grades.
Spill Over Results The students in this group were expected
to graduate in 2007/2008. This group
includes students with matriculation
number prefix DE.2000 and DE.2001
whereas migration of results started from
DE.2002. The implication of this is that
results of DE.2000 and DE.2001 have to be
migrated. This is to enable the
computation of their CGPA and final
classification to be prepared online.
However, the consultants have committed
themselves to doing this, once the results
are submitted to them.
Missing Result Pages A result submitted with missing pages
will obviously affect the students’
academic records. Thus an affected
student who notices this is expected to lay
complaints through the consultant’s ‘help
desk’ or the Post Comments link on the
portal. Once such issues come to the
consultant’s notice, they will in turn notify
the various faulting departments to
submit the omitted pages or a complete
copy of the said results. Often times, this
takes the departments several days to sort
out thereby causing delay for the
consultants. It is only when those omitted
results get to the Consultants that they can
effectively handle the student’s issues.
Until then, such omitted results can
appear as dash for the student.
All departments are expected to pass their
results through the Senate Assessment
and Graduation Committee (A&GRC) to
the ICT Unit for onward migration and
uploading.
It is very disappointing to put on record
that the Exams and Records Unit DO
8|Page
NOT have most of the past results and
barely have kept any students’ records.
This is why the electronic system is now
on ground, to ensure the centralisation of
data (students’ records) for effective
school administration.
The solution to the challenges requires the
efforts of the students, heads of
departments, faculty officers and probably
the examination officers of the various
departments/faculties.
As observed these challenges have
resulted in the following:
a. Incomplete online results for some
students (maybe for a semester or
session)
b. Wrong online results (as the
departments furnishes the ICT unit
with results different from what the
students already know)
c. Delay in final classification of results
d. Delay in NYSC
e. Delay in course registration (as
students
needed
to
sort
out
outstanding results before they could
register online)
To give the school’s portal a human face
the consultant ensured that students’
complaints were properly addressed at
the Help-Desk in the ICT Centre. They
also created an online Care-Centre where
students post complaints by just clicking
on the ‘Post Comments’ tab on the
university’s web-portal www.ust.edu.ng.
This ICT innovation is worthy of
emulation and support, rather than
castigation, with its present imperfections
in its teething stage. Change has never
been smooth without transition or transfer
issues which most often than not is kept
under control.
dents in thee school no
ow
Presenttly, all stud
do theirr course reg
gistration on
nline.
...And
d Then th
he Facultty of Law
w! The ineefficient maanagement of records in
the old system maade it so diffficult to tracck
the pro
ogress of th
he students. Before now
w,
studentts usually went to Law Scho
ool
withoutt completing theirr academ
mic
obligatiion with th
he school. This had leeft
the univ
versity man
nagement and
a
its Sena
ate
helplesss to the po
oint that theey can’t eveen
rememb
ber the lastt time Senaate approveed
the facculty’s resu
ult withou
ut “executiv
ve
approvals”.
ystem really made
scchool. The manual sy
caaricature of the nation’s premier
U
University
off Science an
nd Technolo
ogy.
O
Online Pa
ayments Sccratch card
ds are the modern means
m
of
payment; th
hey are used to pay b
bills and
harge phones.
Sin
nce the
allso to rech
un
niversity no
ow runs a cashless
c
sysstem, all
payments fo
or servicess are by debit
d
or
sccratch cardss. Students in the Faaculty of
M
Managemen
p nine th
housand
t Sciences pay
an
nd five hun
ndred nairaa (N9, 500.000) while
sttudents in science based
b
prog
grammes
pay eleven thousand and five hundred
h
f
per
naaira (N11, 500.00) ass school fees
seession. Beefore the in
ntroduction
n of the
ellectronic sy
ystem, it was possiible for
m
many
studen
nts to evad
de the paym
ment of
scchool fees. Howeverr, this evassion has
seeen its end as it is on reecord that students
s
arre paying a backlog off fees now. This is
beecause the new system
m creates a virtual
acccount for all studen
nts and help
ps track
th
heir school fee paymen
nts as well.. It also
keeeps an electronic verssion of theiir school
feees receipt for
f any futture referen
nces and
use by the various
v
unitts in the un
niversity
uch as bursa
ary, library,, clinic, etc.
su
orthy of notee to say thaat this proceess
It is wo
is being
g frowned at
a today and the Facullty
of Law is required to put thin
ngs in place to
ensure that best prractice was enshrined, as
ool
well aas adhere to stipullated scho
regulatiions. This made
m
the new
n
Dean of
the Facculty work tirelessly to
t ensure th
he
faculty was revam
mped and best practiice
was tru
uly enshrineed. With th
he help of th
he
ICT uniit and the consultant,
c
t faculty of
the
Law n
now boastss of one of
o the mo
ost
compreehensively migrated results as
touchin
ng studentss who are still in th
he
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
2007
800
2008
600
2010
400
200
0
AGRIC
ENGRG
ENVSC
FTSE
LAW
Figure 2:: Chart of Adm
missions in the different fa
aculties from 2
2007
9|Page
SCI
M
MGT. SCI.
Today, payments have been made easiier
by the use of AT
TM/ debit cards, whicch
a
paren
nts to mak
ke
allow students and
nts to the University
U
in
n the comfo
ort
paymen
of their homes from
m any part of the world
d.
w system has
h made it impossib
ble
The new
for the students to
t proceed to a sessio
on
withoutt paying th
heir school fees. It will
w
interestt you to no
ote that the RSUST pays
the leasst fees in th
he state com
mpared to th
he
Rivers State Polyttechnic, thee Rivers Sta
ate
ducation an
nd even th
he
Universsity of Ed
Rivers State Colleege of Arts and Scien
nce
pts have beeen
and yett all manneer of attemp
made to
o circumveent the systeem but to no
n
avail ass the system
m restricts students
s
fro
om
carrying
g out courrse registraation witho
out
paying their fees. Consequen
ntly, lectureers
do not ssee the stud
dent’s namee on their lissts
to enteer his scorres/grades in case th
he
studentt decides to attends claasses and tak
ke
tests/ex
xaminationss. This has
h
made it
impossiible for stud
dents to beaat the system
m.
Previou
usly, the university
y had lo
ost
millionss to studen
nt fraudsterrs. Studen
nts
who atttempted to
o hack the system an
nd
were caaught and fined an Anti-fraud
A
fee
f
off five thoussand naira (N5, 000.000) rather
th
han being suspended. (This camee on the
heeels of theeir claimin
ng that theey were
viictims and
d not perrpetrators of the
frraudulent accts).
Th
herefore, over two
o hundred
d (200)
sttudents paiid the antii-fraud fee of five
th
housand naira (N5, 0000.00). This was
w paid
viia purchasee of anti-frraud scratcch cards
w
which
was later co
onverted to
t
Late
A
Administrat
tion card.
Late Registra
ation
W
When
a new
w academic session beg
gins, the
scchool gives the retu
urning stud
dents a
caalendar to help them
m plan effeectively.
Th
he commen
ncement of late registrration is
cllearly stateed in the school’s calendar.
Ev
very studeent who failed to register
during the normal school
s
regiistration
peeriod is expected to pay a late
reegistration fee
f of five th
housand naaira only
(N
N5, 000.00).
of Port
(IIn schools like the University
U
H
Harcourt
stu
udents pay up
u to 50% of their
scchool fees as late registrattion fee)
A
After
the peeriod of latte registratiion, any
sttudent who
o fails to reg
gister is assu
umed to
haave forfeiteed the sessio
on.
3000
0
2500
0
2000
0
2004
4/2005
2005
5/2006
1500
0
2006
6/2007
2007
7/2008
1000
0
2008
8‐2010
500
0
0
AGRIC
ENGRG
ENVSC
FTSE
Figure 3:: Graduationss by faculties ffrom 2004/20
005 session
10 | P a g e
LAW
SC
CI
MGT. SCI.
The electronic system has made it
impossible for students to outsmart the
school’s management, as they did during
the manual system. They had no choice
but to succumb to the new system and
pleaded with the management of the
university as they were willing to pay for
late administration because lecturers had
already entered scores online and would
require the ICT Unit to re-enter results of
these students who fall within the late
administration bracket.
Conclusion Intel and Microsoft here in Nigeria have
testified independently that RSUST is the
foremost functional e-varsity in the
country. Today, the university can boast
of running the most robust campus
management system which is still
scalable. It has the largest ICT centre
which houses over 600 computer units
and it runs the largest IT academy in
partnership with Microsoft, Cisco and
Intel where students obtain world-class
ICT certification from Microsoft, with
complete
training
kits
(Manuals,
notepads, pens, etc).
11 | P a g e
The Country’s premier University of
Science and Technology is blazing the trail
in the community of universities in
Nigeria in the full adoption of technology
in the development of education by
ensuring best practice in the country’s
educational system. This is one of the
reasons why a University of Science and
Technology was even set up in Rivers
State in the first instance. This has paid off
a great deal as the school is gradually
assuming its place as the country’s
Premier University of Science and
Technology through the effective use of
ICT in school administration.
Sharing our initial challenges and some of
the ways we worked around them is
merely to make our story to be in the
public domain to help other universities
who are scared taking the big first step to
bringing lasting changes; to take a cue and
improve on what we have started.
Remember, “the risks and costs of a longrange comfortable inaction far out-weighs
the costs and risks of a programme of
actions”, which is to ensure the effective
and efficient running of our ivory towers
through ‘ennovision’ as described in the
next chapter.
Chapter Two
e-NNOVISION
The blend of ‘e’ technology, innovation and vision brings
the true value to any program of action; be it in education,
administration, economy, banking, transportation,
communication etc. – it is the right blend!
B.B. Fakae
12 | P a g e
The Rebuilding of an Ivory Tower
13 | P a g e
Introd
duction Many stories can
n be told around th
he
n transformaation in thee Rivers Sta
ate
sudden
Universsity of Scieence and Technology
T
–
Nigeriaa’s premierr University
y of Scien
nce
and Teechnology. One of su
uch stories is
central and is ind
deed the k
kernel of th
he
he
successes experieenced so far - th
on
of
an
nd
Informaation
adoptio
Commu
unication Technology
T
in all straata
of the scchool administration.
ministration
n, from its
i
The present adm
wed key in
nterest in th
he
takeoff date show
adoptio
on of ICT in
n its day to day
d activitiees,
and thiis is what we
w call “e-nnovision” –
the
aability
to
o
mix
on,
innovatio
electron
nic/digital processes and doggeed
vision for excelllence to achieve
a
beest
ol administration. Th
his
practicee in schoo
giant stride hass in just four yearrs,
graduallly restored sanity in the on
nce
chaotic administtrative sysstem wheere
academ
mic records of studentts, records of
staff, faacilities, eq
quipment and all th
hat
make for good education
n were not
n
d. The lack of vital da
ata
properlly managed
Figure 4
4: RSUST's Wo
orld‐class porrtal
14 | P a g e
nd facts offten makess the manaagement
an
an
nd administration off any orgaanisation
allmost impo
ossible and quite
q
difficu
ult; little
w
wonder
mosst of the universities
u
in our
co
ountry are a mere sh
hadow of what
w
an
iv
vory tower ought
o
to bee.
Th
he presentt managem
ment of thee Rivers
Sttate
Univ
versity
o
of
Sciencee
and
Technology therefore sourced fo
or better
w
ways
of gettting things done, thro
ough the
development of new processes and
a
the
of
In
nformation
n
and
deployment
C
Communicat
tion Tech
hnology in
nto the
un
niversity sy
ystem.
To this end, the idea of
o the devellopment
T Master Plan that will
off the ICT
en
ncompass the utilissation of digital
teechnology in all transaction
ns and
prrocesses of the universsity was con
nceived.
Th
his masterr plan wass initiated by the
ad
dministratio
on to cateer for the various
IC
CTs and sy
ystem revolution need
ds of the
un
niversity; to bring it out frrom its
in
nglorious sttate and to leap
l
frog it into the
co
ountry’s first functionaal e-varsity.. A lofty
am
mbition it was,
w and today we can
n see the
reeality of the foresight (e-nnovisio
on) that
w adopted
was
d.

The deetailed and insightful ICT mastter
plan ou
utlined how
w to use teechnology to
improv
ve processes in thee universiity
manageement
and
a
ad
dministratio
on.
Troubleesome spots were dully recogniseed
and deaalt with through analy
ysis, synthessis
and p
proactive approachees to th
he
resolutiion of such issues by using
u
modern
day teechnologiess necessarry for th
he
enhanceement
of
ad
dministrativ
ve
producttivity in sch
hool adminiistration.
a
b the mastter
by
One of the issues addressed
ncludes thee ICT Centtre bluepriint
plan in
which is
i a key do
ocument in
n the school’s
ICT m
master plan
n formulatted for th
he
achieveement of thee following::
 Settting up of a world-classs ICT centtre
thatt will meet the ever grrowing need
ds
of IICT deploy
yment in th
he universiity
and
d the state att large.
 A centre th
hat will oversee th
he
plementation of the ICT
T master plaan
imp
for tthe institutiion.
 A centre tha
at will su
upervise th
he
ployment off ICT in the institution.
dep
 A team that will han
ndle repairrs,
a
help deesk issues for
f
maiintenance and
the university community
c
y.
Figuree 5: World Classs RSUST ICT Center
15 | P a g e
A sourcee for generrating income and
revenue for
f the univ
versity.
IC
CT Plan aand Infraastructurral D
Developm
ment Th
he blueprin
nt for the ceentre also co
ontained
th
he way th
he ICT resources
r
w
will
be
deployed ass well as define
d
app
propriate
oles for thee existing staff
s
of thee centre.
ro
Th
he blue print gave a new
n
chart of
o course
an
nd directio
on to the en
ntire univeersity as
th
he centre began to con
nsult directtly with
th
he ICT co
onsultant contacted
c
by the
scchool’ admiinistration. The undersstanding
frrom the blueprint
b
g
gave
rise to the
ap
ppointmentt of the Director of the ICT
C
Centre
as th
he Chief In
nformation Officer
(C
CIO) of thee institution. – This ensured
th
hat an officeer in the un
niversity waas made
reesponsible for the ma
anagement of data,
reecords and
d other infformation that
t
the
scchool requirres for effecctive runnin
ng of its
day to day acctivities.
With the IC
W
CT centre bllueprint alsso came
th
he restructu
uring and equipping
g of the
IC
CT centre. The bluep
print was detailed
en
nough
to
indiicate
w
workable
infrastructure an
nd personn
nel for th
he
This
gave
th
he
preseent
centre.
he
adminisstration dirrection to renovate th
entire IICT centre with the intention of
prepariing it for thee vision set in the mastter
plan.
T centre ha
as since beeen developeed
The ICT
in
p
partnership
p
with
corpora
ate
organissations who
o believed in the IC
CT
master plan pressented to them
t
by th
he
universsity. Donor organisattions such as
the
Insurance
National
Depossit
Petroleu
um
Corporaation
(NDIC),
Technology Development Fund (PTDF
F),
(
Nig
ger
Educatiional Trusst Fund (ETF),
Delta D
Developmen
nt Commisssion (NDDC
C),
Intercon
ntinental Bank Plcc, Nation
nal
Commu
unication Commissiion (NCC
C),
Total E & P, CH
HEVRON Plc,
P
and th
he
Nigeriaan Liquefied
d Natural Gas (NLNG
G)
have alll made theeir modest ccontribution
ns
to the aachievemen
nt of these giant stridees.
The cen
ntre was in
nitially equiipped with
h a
100KVA
A generato
or which serves as a
power back up for the cen
ntre with 3550
computters. Todaay, the ceentre has a
275KVA
A generato
or to supply power to
over 6600 compu
uters with
hin the IC
CT
Figure 6
6: RSUST Worlld Class ICT Ceenter
16 | P a g e
omplex. Th
his is to ensure
e
thatt power
co
ou
utages do not
n hinder the workab
bility of
th
he centre.
As it stands today, the ICT centree carters
A
fo
or the everr growing needs of capacity
c
development, maintenance and support
or the univeersity. The centre has given a
fo
cllear-cut dirrection of its
i function
nality as
w as its in
well
nherent poteentials. It iss worthy
off note to mention
m
at this point that the
IC
CT centre is housin
ng two (2)) world
accclaimed academies
a
which willl bring
w
world
classs
capaciity
devellopment
acctivities wiithin the reach
r
of sttaff and
sttudents of the universsity commu
unity as
w as the en
well
ntire Riverss people.
Th
he centre serves
s
as th
he nerve ceentre of
co
onnectivity and oth
her ICT related
acctivities. It therefore houses
h
the internet
in
nfrastructurre of the university
u
a
and
also
th
he connecttivity back
kbone requ
uired to
distribute in
nternet as well as intranet
acctivities witthin the uniiversity.
Th
he universsity has one of the largest
in
nternet ban
ndwidths in
n the regio
on. The
ceentre which
h had 512k
kbps/1024k
kbps has
been upgraded to
o 2Mbps/4Mbps in th
he
w months. Frree internett access to th
he
last few
universsity commu
unity and its environs in
the firsst year of this
t
adminiistration was
w
done to
o create aw
wareness off ICT on th
he
campuss and its environmen
e
nt as well as
give a head startt on the surge
s
of IC
CT
y communiity
activitiees that thee university
has exp
perienced. We
W believe the messag
ge
was weell sent and
d the gesture welcomeed
by all meaningfu
ul stakehollders of th
he
unity. Howeever, with th
he
universsity commu
increaseed need of bandwidth
h to cope wiith
activitiees in th
he centre for daata
manageement and
d staff access to th
he
internett, the interrnet coveraage has no
ow
been localised to the
t ICT cen
ntre and oth
her
m
availab
ble to the keey
internett sources made
officers and all professo
ors of th
he
wly
universsity. Neverttheless, witth the new
upgrad
ded bandwiidth of 2M
Mbps/4Mbp
ps,
ntre will resume
r
intternet acceess
the cen
around the campu
us again for the benefit of
all.
verhaul an
nd
Just reecently, a major ov
capacity
y developm
ment for IC
CT staff was
w
carried out to ensu
ure that thee university
y’s
ICT cen
ntre meets all the oblligations an
nd
Figure 7
7: Welcome to
o RSUST Onlin
ne @ www.ust.edu.ng.
17 | P a g e
uge responsibilities beefore it.
hu
Besides, the ICT Centre’s blueprrint, the
niversity IC
CT master plan also has the
un
ellectronic caampus man
nagement solution
ass a major ace to up turn mostt of the
siituations th
hat had bed
devilled the smooth
ru
unning an
nd admin
nistration of the
un
niversity.
e
eCampus
Apart from
A
m the dep
ployment of the
haardware infrastructuree and settin
ng up of
th
he
univerrsity’s
IC
CT
centree,
this
ad
dministratio
on also too
ok the bulll by the
ho
orn by partnering
p
with ed
ducation
so
olution pro
oviders – Cinfores Ltd to
prrovide a robust
r
and
d scalable campus
m
management
t solution – e-Campus..
Th
his solution
n is adjudg
ged the besst in the
co
ountry. It is of th
he platform
m that
in
ntegrates most of the acctivities carrried out
by
y studentss, staff an
nd visitors of the
un
niversity.
So
ome of the highlights of
o e-Campu
us are as
fo
ollows:
Registtration o
of Studen
nts The e-C
Campus hass a module that registeers
studentts; both fresh and
d returnin
ng
studentts can carry
y out theirr registratio
on
activitiees online. Some
S
of su
uch activitiies
includee:
Paymeent of feess: Before now, mostt students could
c
escap
pe
n
paying fees beccause therre were no
controlss for checks and baalances. It is
possiblee that som
me studentss could hav
ve
graduatted withou
ut making ffees paymeent
to the school.
s
Today, the storry is differeent
as all sttudents mak
ke their pay
yments for all
a
necessaary fees on
nline via scratch
s
card
ds
initially
y but moree recently, through th
he
debit card which recharges their virtu
ual
oday, paym
ment of fees is
accountts online. To
what makes
m
a student to
o have th
he
followin
ng privilegees:




view
w a semester result in registereed
courses
takee examinations
enab
ble lecturrers to input theeir
scorres/grades
scho
ool identificcation card
d

secure ho
ostel accom
mmodation
C
Course Reg
gistration: With the eC
W
Campus solu
ution in pllace, the
sttudents are able to reg
gister their semester
s
co
ourses onlin
ne. This acction enablees every
sttudent to
o have theirr records properly
p
keept and to follow
w their accademic
prrogress fo
or each seession. Th
his also
en
nables lectu
urers to en
nter the sccores of
sttudents witth ease. Sincce the activ
vities are
caarried out online,
o
lectu
urers can allso enter
th
heir scores at their con
nvenience either
e
at
th
he ICT centtre or in th
he comfort of their
ho
omes or offfices. This has proveed to be
on
ne of the grreatest mov
ves to restorre sanity
to
o the studen
nts’ record--keeping sy
ystem of
th
he school as
a it has eliminated all the
irrregularitiess often ex
xperienced due to
co
ourse codees, improp
per calculaation of
C
CGPA
and their
t
likes that had leed to so
m
many
wrong
g records in the school.
Course Asssignmen
C
nts/Scorre e
entry Th
he solutio
on has diifferent lev
vels of
prrivileges asssigned to its
i various users. It
giives the Heeads of Dep
partment thee course
Figure 8: Course Reg
gistration Rep
port Live ‐ Onee of the Reporrts from the p
portal
18 | P a g e
assignm
ment privileege and enaables them to
assign courses to
o the lecturers in theeir
ments.
departm
gned to theem
Lectureers with courses assig
have th
he privilegee of enteriing scores of
studentts who reegistered th
heir coursees.
This m
makes the system to control th
he
scores entered
e
by each
e
lectureer and mak
kes
them reesponsible for the outcome of th
he
scores eentered in the coursess assigned to
them. However,
H
o
owing
to deelays and th
he
inability
y of som
me lecturerrs to do it
themsellves, the IC
CT unit of th
he universiity
is also helping ou
ut in the en
ntry of scorres
he lecturerss can easily
y confirm th
hat
while th
the scores entered
d tallies witth what theey
n their scoree sheets.
have on
prroved difficcult.
W
With
the e-ccampus, thee story is different.
d
Lecturers an
nd examin
nation officcers no
onger have to bear th
he brunt off having
lo
en
ndless calcu
ulation of CGPAs
C
and
d results
off students.. Once th
he lecturerss finish
en
ntering thee scores of the studeents, the
sy
ystem autom
matically ca
alculates thee CGPA
off the studen
nts.
Parents and guardians also have a good
o monitor the accademic
pllatform to
prrogress of their child
dren and wards
w
as
th
hey can hav
ve firsthand
d knowledg
ge of the
sttudent’s acttivities in scchool.
Other interesting modu
O
ules of the package
p
in
nclude:
Result Compu
utation A
Accommo
odation: This is one aspect of studentss’ record th
hat
huge challeenge to the personnel at
posed h
the exaaminations and record
ds unit of th
he
school. Some graaduating sttudents hav
ve
had dellays due to negligence or erroneou
us
computtation of scores and CGPAs.
C
Theere
have alsso been issu
ues with keeeping prop
per
recordss of studentts in files ass storage an
nd
wareho
ousing of paper
p
resultts have ofteen
In
nitially, thiss module allows
a
the students
s
to
o pay for th
heir hostel accommod
dation if
th
hey have been alloccated one. It also
en
nables them
m to know their
t
roomm
mates as
th
hey are ablee to view th
heir profiles before
th
hey even meet
m
them.. It forms a good
pllatform to
o monitor and traack the
acctivities of a set of people
p
in a given
ro
oom. Preseently, this module haas been
Figure 9:: Report of au
utomatic hosteel booking an
nd allocation ffrom the porttal
19 | P a g e
upgrad
ded to enab
ble studentss to book for
f
modation online
o
and secure roo
om
accomm
and bed spaces on
o first com
me-first serv
ve
The system
m automatically assign
ns
basis. T
room/b
bed spaces and helps improve on
o
the trransparency
y in han
ndling succh
matterss.
Accou
unts/Recceipts With th
he online so
olution, stud
dents are ab
ble
to take their receip
pts with theem wherev
ver
they waant to virtuaally as long
g as they hav
ve
access to the uniiversity’s portal.
p
Wheen
nts are maade online,, the systeem
paymen
keeps a proper lo
og of the payments an
nd
makes receipts
r
avaailable and accessible to
the stu
udents at an
ny time. This
T
makes it
also veery easy fo
or the sch
hool to cleear
studentts at the po
oint of grad
duation sin
nce
the sch
hool has a virtual log of all
a
paymen
nts made by
y students.
Staff Data and
d Facilityy Audit The onlline solutio
on has a feaature for staaff
directorry and prrofile of all
a the staaff
membeers of the university in a bid to
providee a one stop
s
shop for humaan
resourcce needs of the universsity. An aud
dit
processs was initia
ated which
h has helpeed
the uniiversity seee areas of need in th
he
Figure 10: Live repo
ort of the Staff
ff Directory on
n the portal
20 | P a g e
niversity and
a
can in
nitiate recrruitment
un
prrocesses wiithout difficculties.
Fu
urthermoree, the system
m has been made to
in
nclude a facility
f
man
nagement module
th
hat aids th
he universitty in the effective
e
m
management
t of its faciilities and properly
p
acccount for all
a proceedss that would
d accrue
to
o the univerrsity.
R
Result Vie
ew Sttudents off the uniiversity with
w
the
eC
Campus platform
p
frrom the sessions
un
nder review
w are able to
o view theirr results
on
nline witho
out moving
g from one lecturer
to
o the otherr as was th
he case. Th
his also
giives them the platform
m to comp
pulsorily
reegister co
ourses theey failed before
reegistering new
n
coursess in a new session.
Itt also takes away alll the irregularities
sttudents aree fond of en
ngaging in such as
reegistering and
a
seating
g for moree exams
th
han their reequired maaximum creedit unit
caan accomm
modate. Parrents and sponsors
s
off students are also able to viiew the
reesults of theeir children/
/wards.
R
Report Ge
eneratio
on Th
he e-Camp
pus solution
n also has a special
report generation
n module that mak
kes
of departmeent, lecturerrs, deans an
nd
heads o
other privileged
p
staff of th
he universiity
includin
ng the ma
anagement team of th
he
universsity to geneerate reportts concernin
ng
the day
y to day affairs
a
of th
he universiity
online, real time. This has indeed
i
giveen
f
manageement the needed impetus for
quick decision
d
mak
king as welll as carry out
o
effectiv
ve planning
g and budg
geting for th
he
universsity.
Basic sttatistics aree readily maade availab
ble
to stak
keholders without recourse to
excusess.
Comm
municatio
on Toolss Staff an
nd studentss of the un
niversity no
ow
enjoy free emaiil system (hosted by
b
oft). The email
e
whicch is on th
he
Microso
live@ed
du platform
m gives ev
very studeent
and staaff of the university
u
a ust.edu.n
an
ng
domain
n for the email acttivities. Th
his
makes the universsity amongsst the first in
the country to achiieve this feaat.
ortal prov
vides SMS services to
The po
subscrib
bers and enables
e
theem send SM
MS
to theirr loved oness within and outside th
he
y at a ridiculously lo
ow rate. Th
he
country
portal also
a
has a new
n
featuree for bulletin
ns
nline. This informs staff,
s
students and
on
viisitors on the up-to-d
date activitties and
ev
vents in thee university.
A
Administr
ration Th
he system which
w
has privileges
p
a
assigned
to
o administra
ators so thaat they can have an
ov
verview of all activitiees that go on, also
giives the school
s
man
nagement a total
ov
verview off the all activities
a
th
hat take
pllace on thee portal. Th
his ensures that the
sy
ystem is no
ot hijacked by either students
s
orr staff for any reaason. The school
m
management
t through
h this privilege
p
m
monitors
all the activitties carried
d out by
in
ndividual students
s
and lectureers. The
co
ourses regiistered by all the students,
nu
umber of students and dettails of
sttudents wh
ho register a particularr course;
co
ourses that have been
n scored, paayments
m
made,
appliccation in to
o programm
mes can
alll be viewed
d.
With all theese featuress, the univeersity is
W
no
ot spending
g any moneey from its purse
p
to
m
make
it worrk. Rather, the school is even
geenerating income frrom the services
offfered by th
hese alumn
ni of the insstitution
(C
Cinfores Lim
mited). Witth a three (3) year
Figure 11:: Live real‐tim
me report of scchool fees payyments from the portal
21 | P a g e
memoraandum of understand
u
ding in placce,
the sch
hool is not only geneerating fund
ds
through
h the MoU with Cinfo
ores Limiteed,
it is alsso reformin
ng the instiitution’s da
ata
manageement systeem which was
w not eveen
working at all. This
T
is do
one with th
he
ve deploym
ment and traaining of th
he
effectiv
w ultimateely
staff of the universsity who will
adminisster and manage
m
the system wiith
the sup
pport of the consultant.
Result Migrattion In ord
der to maake the new
n
campu
us
manageement
veery
usefu
ul
to
th
he
manageement, stafff and stud
dents of th
he
universsity, the present
p
ad
dministratio
on
took a bold step to
t migrate the
t results of
he
studentts from the year 2000 till date. Th
project though challenging
c
g, has gon
ne
miles to prove
p
the chaos
c
of th
he
many m
existing
g manual computatio
on of resullts
and reccord keepiing in the school. Th
he
project lasted for a year and
d has gonee a
way to help the univ
versity min
ne
long w
results of studentss and regulaarised it to fit
into thee present e-ccampus sysstem.
ore, all stud
dents of th
he universiity
Therefo
can heenceforth, view all their resullts
nline and get theirr transcrip
pts and
on
sttatement of
o results the
t
moment they
grraduate from
m the univeersity.
Sttudents’ tra
anscripts ca
an also be viewed
by
y other sch
hools and organisatio
ons who
w
wish
to do so at the insstance of thee school
au
uthority via the ICT Unit. Pareents and
sp
ponsors aree also ablee view thee entire
reesults of th
heir wards from their year of
en
ntry to the year
y
of grad
duation with
h a click
off the button
n.
Th
his wholee project which co
ost the
un
niversity ab
bout N13m
m to achievee is one
off the resou
unding successes of the
t
new
sy
ystem. Thee bold step
p was onee of the
reeforms thaat was misconstrue
m
ed and
m
misrepresent
ted in man
ny quarterss. Some
sttaff and students held to it as the cause of
so
ome of thee demonstrrations and
d strike
acctions experienced lately in
i
the
un
niversity bu
ut the fact remains
r
thaat it was
on
ne move th
hat exposed
d the rot that had
piiled up over
o
the years,
y
causing the
un
niversity to
o seem like ‘a dead and
d buried
pllace’. It let out so maany cans off worms
th
hat have led to the in
nitiation of various
reeform prog
grammes that
t
will aid the
un
niversity in
n its quesst for worlld class
Figure 12
report of scoree entry by leccturers on thee portal
22
| P a2: Real‐time r
ge
educatiion.
he time of this reportt, we are sttill
As at th
working hard to correct
c
the mistakes
m
an
nd
made in resu
ults that weere submitteed
errors m
for mig
gration by the
t various departmen
nts
and facculties in th
he university
y. Today, we
w
have paast the stag
ge of trading blames but
b
we kno
ow the scarrs of the wound will be
b
there to
o remind us
u all of th
he bold step
ps
that weere taken to bring the university
u
o
out
of the w
woods of poor
p
record
dkeeping an
nd
manageement
w
which
th
his
preseent
adminisstration inh
herited and
d decided to
change for the beetterment of
o the Riveers
people and the cou
untry at larg
ge.
WLAN
N, Internet and In
ntranet
The p
present ad
dministratio
on of th
he
universsity has tak
ken a deciisive step to
ensure that the e-campus (e-v
varsity) visio
on
ot end at the ICT centrre. Hence, th
he
does no
adminisstration had
d to invest over
o
N10m to
deploy wireless local arrea network
nfrastructurre in all th
he facultiess of the
in
un
niversity, to ensu
ure the gradual
in
ntegration of
o the vario
ous facultiees of the
un
niversity. This
T
gesturee, made it possible
p
fo
or over 60%
% of the un
niversity cam
mpus to
haave a wireeless cloud
d that can connect
th
hem to the internet.
i
With a band
W
dwidth bein
ng upgradeed from
5112kbps/1m
mpbs
to
2Mbps/
/4Mbps,
sttudents and
d lecturerss can easily
y locate
ho
otspots and make use of the internet
w
without
so
o much stress. Th
his has
prrovoked sttaff and sttudents to acquire
laaptop and desktop
d
com
mputers as well as
m
mobile
phon
nes that can
n easily mak
ke them
co
onnect to th
he internet. With no resstriction
to
o the acccess in th
he first year
y
of
deployment,, the univerrsity adminiistration
haas already projected strategies through
w
which
it can
c
repay for the annual
baandwidth subscriptiion as well
w
as
efffectively co
ontrol the use
u of the internet
w
within
the un
niversity neetwork.
Already, thee existing WLAN
A
W
nettwork is
grradually fo
orming thee school’s n
network
baackbone. Plans hav
ve already
y been
Figure 13:: Internet, WLLAN and Intra
anet infrastruccture at the R
RSUST ICT Cen
nter
23 | P a g e
concluded by the ICT centre and the
school’s ICT consultants on ways to
establish an intranet as this will save staff
and students the time and financial
resources spent while using the internet to
access information that can be hosted
locally via the school’s intranet. To this
end, the centre now hosts the offline
(intranet)
version
of
the
portal
http:\\intranet\ust.edu.ng\. This portal
on the intranet is synchronised with the
main portal which is hosted as
www.ust.edu.ng every 24 hours. This we
believe will aid the university community
to have access to reports and other
features via the intranet at little or no
extra cost.
This will also be the platform to enable
staff and students have access to the elibrary of the university with little or no
difficulty. With the intranet backbone
completely deployed, lecturers can dump
lecture notes and videos for easy access by
the students any point in time; making
learning more convenient and interesting.
However, as a result of the huge cost of
the
maintenance
of
bandwidth
subscription and the inherent cost for
effective sustenance, the university has
limited the broad band service to the ICT
centre, while it has opened discussions
with Internet Service Providers like MTN,
and Vangage Limited for the provision of
a campus area network latching on to the
existing backbones created.
This will make the service available at
affordable rate to university community
and ensure that the providers take
responsibilities of the sustenance and
maintenance of the infrastructure at little
or no cost to the university. This model of
24 | P a g e
sustainable partnership is one way of
reaching our goals without having serious
monetary challenges or commitment to
projects.
CAP RSUST The introduction of the campus area
network via the deployed WLAN and
intranet has made it more necessary for
staff and students of the university to
acquire technology and build up their
capacity in order to maximise the use of
the technology acquired. To this end, the
university and its ICT consultants and
partners (Intel, Microsoft and Beta
Computers) launched a special computer
acquisition programme tagged: Computer
for All Programme (CAP) RSUST. The
programme was launched on the same
day the university officially opened the
PTDF/NDIC ICT centre. It got support
from all stakeholders in the educational
sector; the Deputy Governor of Rivers
State, the ICT adviser to the Governor, the
then Head, House Committee for
Education, now the LGA chairman of
Ogu/Bolo LGA, staff and students of the
university as well.
The programme which is geared towards
the acquisition of computers (laptops and
desktops) with a relaxed payment mode
of N20,000 – N30,000 down payment and
a 12 - 24 month payment plan was aimed
at ensuring that all staff and students of
the university acquired technology and
move at the pace of the university at
affordable rates.
The programme is on-going and has
recorded a remarkable success as many
students and staff of the university have
subscrib
bed for theeir systemss while som
me
others have
h
already received their
t
laptop
ps.
niversity administrat
a
tion believ
ves
The un
that thiis gesture will also aid
a in the ‘e‘
varsity’’ quest and more espeecially aid th
he
universsity to pro
ovide qualitty educatio
on
for all iits studentss; in the sam
me vein, heelp
lecturerrs to be more
m
producctive in theeir
pursuitt of both acaademic and
d profession
nal
nce.
excellen
Capaccity Deve
elopmen
nt and the RSUSTT Inform
mation Te
echnologgy Acade
emy (ITA
A) With so much attention
n given to
c
th
his
deployiing ICTs in the campus,
adminisstration ha
as also heeld in hig
gh
esteem,, capacity
y develop
pment. Th
he
question often arisses – if all th
hese e-varsiity
n place, wh
ho will driv
ve
structurre is put in
the proccess to mak
ke the e-varsity, happen
n?
Of courrse, it requires staff an
nd students to
make iit happen. And this can only be
b
possiblee if they acq
quire technology as weell
as its teechnical kno
ow-how. Th
his reasonin
ng
made tthe manageement to integrate IC
CT
Figure 14: W
World‐class tra
aining availablee at the RSUST ITA
25 | P a g e
velopment into the school’s
caapacity dev
IC
CT master plan. To th
his end, pro
ovisions
w
were
made to
t ensure th
hat the instittution is
liccensed to have
h
Inform
mation Tech
hnology
A
Academies
f both CIS
for
SCO and Microsoft
M
C
Corporation
- the world’s largest
neetworking and softw
ware devellopment
co
ompanies. As
A it stand
ds today, th
he ITAs
arre set and ready to trrain staff, students
s
an
nd the gen
neral public on up to date
developments in the IC
CT worlds. The
T ITA
grammes fo
or both
offfers certifficate prog
C
Cisco
and
d
Microssoft
proffessional
ceertificationss. It is attestted to be on
ne of the
beest in the co
ountry, amongst the seven (7)
in
n Nigerian
n universitiies. In thee entire
so
outh-south, it is th
he only licensed
M
Microsoft
academy in
n operation
n as at
w
when
it wass deployed and impleemented
on
n the campu
us.
Th
his gives students and staff of the
un
niversity th
he edge of being
b
up to
o date in
th
he ICT worlld. Also thiis has an im
mpact on
th
he institutio
on as all staaff and stud
dents are
ex
xpected to undergo
u
a basic
b
coursee in ICT
an
nd digital lifestyle
l
– a course tailored to
su
uit Microso
oft’s basic an
nd essentiaal course
on
n digital liteeracy.
u
a
are
All acaademic stafff of the university
expecteed to go through an
n ICT courrse
tagged: 21st Century Educatio
on Skills. Th
he
i to exposee them to th
he role of IC
CT
course is
in educcation in th
he 21st century and also
new teeaching , learning and scho
ool
adminisstration ap
pproaches that will ad
dd
up to make the university world classs.
gh staff didn’t make the most of
Althoug
the opp
portunity when
w
it availled itself ass a
result of
o the strikee actions, th
he universiity
manageement is using oth
her veritab
ble
means tto ensuring
g that the reequired skills
are acqu
uired by alll staff of thee university.
Studentts on the otther hand, are expecteed
to go tthrough a compulsory
c
y ICT courrse
during their stay in the un
niversity. Th
he
T and Digittal
course which is tagged: ICT
he
Lifestylle is put together to help th
studentts appreciatte the role ICT plays in
modern
n education
n and workp
place. This is
specificcally design
ned to aid graduates of
the univ
versity hav
ve a compettitive edge in
their qu
uest for goo
od jobs or start
s
up theeir
own bu
usinesses aftter their graaduation. Th
he
senate o
of the univeersity has approved
a
th
his
training
g and requiires every student
s
fro
om
he 2008/200
09 session to
o get a certification
th
frrom the academy beforre graduatio
on.
Unfortunatelly, the strik
U
ke actions have also
leed to the rep
pealing of th
his senate decision.
d
In
n spite of th
his, studentts of the un
niversity
sttill attend the
t
ITA to shore up their IT
sk
kills. So far,, over 1000 students
s
haave gone
th
hrough the IT Academ
my and hav
ve been
ceertified by the univerrsity and Microsoft
M
C
Corporation.
.
Sttudents of Computerr Engineeriing and
C
Computer
Sccience havee been enco
ouraged
to
o acquire a professiona
p
al certification from
eiither of the two (2) acaademies run
n by the
un
niversity as
a the co
ost of run
nning a
ceertification programmee in the RSU
UST ITA
iss far cheap
per compa
ared to tho
ose run
ou
utside the campus. These
T
acadeemies in
th
he school arre run at thee education prices.
Members off the publiic have alsso been
M
en
njoined to take
t
advanttage of the benefits
off the ITA which is poised
p
to increase
digital literaacy in the state and th
he Niger
D
Delta
region
n as a whole. Presen
ntly, the
N
NDDC
is run
nning somee of its prog
grammes
in
n the ITA. The
T United Nations an
nd other
orrganisation
ns also usee the acadeemy for
Figure 1
15: Students iin a practical ssession at thee RSUST ITA
26 | P a g e
other
training
mmes.
program
and
certificatio
on
Electrronic Exaaminatio
on and Testin
ng Anotheer wonderfu
ul breakthrrough in th
his
adminisstration’s “e-nnovision
n” is the use
u
of eleectronic processes
p
to manag
ge
examin
nations in th
he university. It was firrst
tried an
nd tested during thee university
y’s
Post Unified Tertiary
T
M
Matriculatio
on
nations (UT
TME) in th
he 2008/2009
Examin
session. It has ind
deed been a wonder to
w
write Post UTM
ME
many. Students who
nation in th
he school can
c
see theeir
examin
results on the sp
pot and can
n get resullts
on.
online ttwo (2) hours after the examinatio
This feat, has giv
ven the sch
hool the beest
i terms of conducting
g Post UTM
ME
record in
in the country.
he story bein
ng told natiionally, abo
out
With th
the caapabilities of the university
u
to
conduct
nic
hittch-free
electron
nations,
o
organisation
ns
examin
many
includin
ng banks, th
he PTDF, National
N
opeen
Universsity and many
m
otheers, use th
he
Figure 116: First Semester 2010/2011 IFS electronic EExamination
27 | P a g e
uccessful
ceentre on a regular bassis for a su
ru
unning of one electroniic test or thee other.
With all of th
W
hese experieences, the quest
q
for
trransparency
y and the need to driv
ve the ‘e’
cu
ulture as to
o achieve best
b
practicee in the
ad
dministratio
on
of
e-testing,,
the
m
management
t of the university
u
a
and
the
leeadership of
o the Instittute of Fou
undation
Sttudies (IFS)), in partnership with the ICT
C
Centre
and the ICT conssultants,
in
ntroduced the
t electron
nic examinaations in
th
he conduccting of all exam
minations
ad
dministered
d by the IFS – the insttitute in
ch
harge of gen
neral studiees in the uniiversity.
Figure 17: Students of tthe National O
Open Universityy of Nigeria taking their examinations at thee World Class Adaptive ng and e‐testin
ng center RSUSTT
e‐learnin
As at th
he time of th
his report, the
t electron
nic
examin
nations for regular an
nd part tim
me
studentts have beeen conclud
ded. Studen
nts
were ab
ble to view
w their resullts at the en
nd
of each examinatio
on.
he
This haas eliminatted malpraactice to th
barest m
minimum and
a
helped the lectureers
managee some of the very large
l
classees’
examin
nations with
h the needed
d control an
nd
decorum
m. We beelieve that it has also
removeed
all
the
posssibilities
of
victimissation of students by lectureers
thereby
y creating the
t
environ
nment wheere
genuinee scholarlly pursuiit will be
b
rightfullly rewardeed without prejudice.
p
ICT Paark The adm
ministration
n also has the vision to
use the ICT masteer plan and programm
mes
to aid the statee in its technologiccal
acquisittion and capacity developmeent
drive for
f
its citiz
zenry. To this
t
end, th
he
universsity is alrea
ady in disccussion wiith
the staate govern
nment, RS
SSDA, Inteel,
Microso
oft and other local OE
EMs to set up
u
a com
mputer man
nufacturing
g (assemblly)
plant in
n the univeersity that will
w meet th
he
28 | P a g e
software
and
haardware,
development needs of th
he state.
c
capacity
Already, mo
A
ore partnerss and collab
borators
arre showing
g interest to ensure that it
haappens. Consequent
C
tly, the present
ad
dministratio
on has allready gon
ne into
discussions for the developmen
d
nt of a
T ICT Park
k which
bllueprint of the RSUST
in
ntends to
o create over 2000 job
op
pportunitiees for indig
gene graduates. It
w also creeate other auxiliary jo
will
obs and
seervices th
hat will gainfully employ
an
nother set of 200 grad
duates of tthe state
orrigin.
Th
he assemblly line whiich is mean
nt to be
ju
ust a part of the pa
ark is expeected to
prroduce an
n average of 500 units
u
of
co
omputers for the state on a daiily basis
th
hereby meeeting the hardware
h
n
needs
of
th
he state and
d even beyo
ond. The assembly
lin
ne, we beliieve will haave the cap
pacity to
sccale up to 100% in less than one
o
year
baased on pattronage.
Th
he proposeed PC assem
mbly line, certified
c
neetwork and
d system engineers,
e
s
software
developers, entrepreneeurs (start-u
ups and
a
venture capitaliists are
seeasoned) and
being put together in an ecosystem that is
expected to stimulate another silicon
valley in the Niger Delta as Stanford
University did in the USA.
With the support of all stakeholders we
see another Silicon Valley emerge in
Rivers State and the Niger Delta region
providing viable alternative to oil and gas
that has been the mainstay of the state and
region. We believe this quest will not only
create jobs for the Rivers people but will
also make the state an ICT hub for
outsourcing and related activities.
Online Content Development and Management A major characteristic of a fully
functional e-varsity is e-learning. This
cannot be said without the presence of
electronic teaching and learning contents
deployed to and by stakeholders in the
teaching and learning mechanism of the
university. With the presence of a working
campus area network in the university, it
is possible for the development of an
online content for teaching and learning.
Part of the capacity development for
lecturers is the use of ICTs and ICT related
productivity tools to develop online
teaching tools and contents for students.
These contents would include streaming
videos, audio presentations, electronic
books, handouts, etc. Already, the ICT
unit of the university is discussing with
some lecturers who are willing to release
some of their publications to be used as
trial versions of the online content
development. Also as part of the
launching phases, lectures will be
recorded both as video and audio, and
29 | P a g e
optimised for use as online learning
content via the intranet.
E‐Senate In the bit to entrench the digital culture in
the University the leading slogan “Learn
Computer by the Use of Computer” was
floated. In line with this, the University
has undertaken to run a paperless senate
and this has made it mandatory that
members of the University Senate access
the Senate papers from the sub server at
Senate Chamber with their personal eends (Laptops, notebooks, notepads and
iPads).
Conclusion The visionary leadership of this present
administration through the use of ennovision is actively geared towards
restoring the university to its enviable
position as the premier University of
Science and Technology as well as making
the university’s graduates world-class.
Undoubtedly, the introduction of ICT in
the University has changed the way the
business of education is conducted.
The journey is on, and the distance
covered makes it certain that this
administration will implement all its
aspirations of making the Rivers State
University of Science and Technology the
pride of the Rivers people and Nigerians
in general as we journey into making
Nigerian education world-class via the “ennovision”.
Ackno
owledgement CT, for his donation and
a
supporrt in the
IC
trraining of sttaff of the University
U
in
n ICT.
The IC
CT developm
ment in th
he Universiity
could n
not have beeen possiblee without th
he
supportt and undeerstanding of staff an
nd
studentts of the Un
niversity. We
W thank theem
for theirr solidarity and suppo
ort.
We appreciaate the chaallenge thro
W
own by
H Excellenccy Rt Hon Chibuike Rotimi
His
A
Amaechi,
CON, the Ex
xecutive G
Governor
off Rivers Staate and Visitor which spurred
us to strivee to meett the man
ndate of
the
U
University
reescuing
from
in
nfrastructurral and acad
demic decay
y.
nd thanks also goes to
t the youn
ng
Profoun
men an
nd women,, mostly th
he Alumni of
this Un
niversity wh
ho were tou
uched by th
he
decay that existed and came tto the clario
on
hip
call of tthis adminiistration forr partnersh
to rebu
uild this grreat citadell of learnin
ng
through
h interven
ntion with informatio
on
and com
mmunicatio
on technolo
ogy. For th
his
we waant to sin
ncerely ap
ppreciate th
he
manageement and
d staff of Cinforres
Limited
d, and Mr Ibifuro Asawo and his
h
colleagu
ues who worked
w
asssiduously to
migratee data and
d setup a World Claass
Campuss Managem
ment Portaal for th
he
Universsity's onlinee processes.
a
go to the speciial
Sincere thanks also
adviserr to the Riv
vers State Governor
G
on
o
30 | P a g e
Lastly, we appreciate
a
t
the
Most High
H
for
H wisdom,, protection
His
n, provision
n, favour
an
nd grace forr the journeey so far.
Prof Ba
arineme Bek
ke Fakae
Vice Chhancellor
Octobber, 2012.