The University of the Western Cape (UWC) has received two grants totalling almost R5 million to enhance its IT systems and promote the use of free and open source software.
The university received a grant of R3.7 million from the Canadian International Development Research Centre to establish a network of African universities to build free software for use in higher education.
The second grant of R1.195 million was received from financial services group the Board of Executors` Education Foundation to establish a computer laboratory facility at UWC. The laboratory will be known as the "BoE IT Room" and is situated within the faculty of Economics and Management Sciences.
The free and open source project, called the African Virtual Open Initiatives and Resources (AVOIR), is developing a second-generation learning management system suitable for Africa`s bandwidth environment.
UWC says the group will also develop applications for use in managing student enrolment as well as other aspects of university administration.
"An important part of the AVOIR project is also research into processes of collaboration and free and open source software development in the African context, as well as research into the design of e-learning systems," says the university.
Other universities participating in the project are the University of Jos (Nigeria), Universite Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar (Senegal), Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (Kenya), University of Nairobi (Kenya), Makerere University (Uganda), University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Catholic University of Mozambique (Mozambique) and The University of Eduardo Modlane (Mozambique).
A number of other universities are collaborating with the AVOIR project through other means of support, including the University of Ghana Legon (Ghana), the University of Port Elizabeth and Peninsula Technikon (South Africa).
Derek Keats, UWC executive director of information and communication services, says the project was started initially using a grant from American development aid agency USAID`s Leland Initiative through its Information Technology Public-Private Alliance. The UWC team was established with funding from SA`s Department of Science and Technology and UNESCO.
"This grant allows us to bring our African partners in to the AVOIR alliance at last. The project will be based in the Free Software Innovation Unit of ICS, and managed by Melissa Benn," Keats says.
"What we are interested in achieving is to build a cadre of developers around Africa who understand and follow a free software approach and philosophy, and who develop software that is useful to people, especially in education," says Benn.
The BoE IT Room can accommodate 60 students. It is designed with a multifaceted approach for students to access at any given time when the need arises and for teaching purposes. It can also be used as an IT conference facility.
"The computers are all high-end machines and half the equipment is connected using wireless technology," says BoE director Kurt Stevens.
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