More than 13,000 students at the University of Namibia (UNAM) are set to receive free laptops, as well as benefit from unlimited wireless network.
UNAM has more than 13,000 students and about 300 lecturers and 40 professors, the move is poised to demand heavy financial commitment. Maggy Beukes-Amiss from the university’s Department of Information and Communication Studies however says cost sharing has been decided on.
According to her, the university will pay the infrastructure costs while the students will pay an annual fee of N$300 (35.7000 USD) for connectivity.
Nabot Uushona, the Director of UNAM’s Computer Centre, added that the project is intended to intensify the university’s learning culture.
Uushona told eLearning Africa that the university’s Internet speed of 20 megabytes per second had already been improved to 110 megabytes per second.
The move follows an impact study by Uushona that found easy accessibility of information helped the students better prepare for classes and assignments.
Formal negotiations are also underway between UNAM and various stakeholders to seek a cost-effective means in which laptops could be provided to the students.
Beukes-Amiss argued that although the university had initially provided computer facilities to the students, the new dimension would enforce computer literacy by boosting uptake of ICT skills among the more hesitant or uninitiated students.
UNAM also provides PCs and stationary to students. The free laptop and network would enable flexibility among the students as well as free learning.
This project, first trailed at the main Windhoek campus from February 15, 2012, is in its final stages in UNAM’s other nine campuses. Beukes-Amiss hopes the project would extend the free laptop and wireless facility to the university’s ten campuses nationwide.
Uushona told eLearning Africa earlier this year that the launch of the service had been timed for the start of the new semester, although work at the remaining nine campuses and eight hostels was expected to be complete in April or May.
Namibia recently launched its 4G countrywide programme becoming among the first African nations with the LTE technology.
