African Virtual University

International Journal of Educational Development 23 (2003) 57–73 www.elsevier.com/locate/ijedudev

Experimenting in distance education: the African Virtual University (AVU) and the paradox of the World Bank in Kenya M.N. Amutabi a

a,*

, M.O. Oketch

b

Department of History, 309 Gregory Hall, 810 S. Wright Street, University Of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA b Department of Educational Policy Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1310 South Sixth Street, Urbana, IL 61801, USA

Abstract This article seeks to accomplish three objectives. The first is to interrogate the efficacy of the African Virtual University (AVU), which is a satellite and information technology (IT)-based distance education system, sponsored by the World Bank in Kenya. The second is to demonstrate the failures of the AVU and the reasons why this has been the case. The third is to give recommendations on how to improve the performance of the AVU in Kenya. It is our argument that whereas the project may have had good intentions, such as helping Africa to catch up technologically, it has failed in its infancy.  2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Distance education; Comparative education; Curriculum planning and development; Educational development; Education technology; Technology education

1. Introduction The African Virtual University (AVU) is a World Bank project first introduced in Kenya in 1998. The Bank’s association with AVU has raised a lot of suspicion since the Bank is the principal source of neo-liberal policy models imposed on developing countries often presented as doctrinal truths. Following the demise of the rival superpower, globalization doctrines of extreme techno-

* Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (M.N. Amutabi).

economic determinism and socio-cultural domination by the United States have filled the intellectual and academic vacuum left by the disappearance of socialism (Were and Amutabi, 2000). Thus the Bank, supported by the United States, has taken to pushing its way beyond its brief. What makes the Bank so powerful is the fact that it has a monopoly on financial matters affecting mainly the South. It has almost a monopoly on ideas in technological, cultural, social, economic and political realms. Through the Bank, neo-liberal policies have been peddled by endless repetition and distorted interpretations of the “Asian Tigers” which Africa is expected to emulate (World Bank, 1993).

0738-0593/03/$ - see front matter  2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0738-0593(01)00052-9

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They are validated neither by historical experience nor by accumulated insights of teachings of life sciences or economics, but by threats of financial strangulation and economic collapse of small countries despite the failure of the Structural Adjustment Programs—SAPs (Ali, 1998; Ayittey, 1992; Bandow and Vasquez, 1994; Chikulo, 1997; Mkandawire and Soludo, 1999). Before the Bank’s latest foray into education, researchers have discovered that the Bank’s economic policies have failed in Africa, although the Bank vehemently denies this. Mbaku notes that “The majority of studies have concluded that SAPs, as pushed by the IMF, the World Bank, and the developed countries have either had insignificant impact on economic growth or have actually made conditions worse” (Mbaku, 1999:133). Despite the overwhelming evidence of the failure of its programs in Africa, the Bank maintains through several evaluation reports by its staff that adjustment is working in Africa (World Bank 1989a,b, 1990; World Bank, 1995a,b; Elbadawi et al., 1992; Elbadawi and Uwujaren, 1992; Hussain, 1994; Hussain and Faruqee, 1994). Going by historical precedents, the AVU project, like other World Bank projects, is engaged in debt creation for Kenya by selling obsolete products to Kenya and discouraging innovation by establishing dependency by way of technological transfer. Yet the AVU project, like others before it, is likely to receive positive appraisals by the World Bank staff despite its monumental shortcomings. For Africa, the problems from the World Bank are legion and are part of the processes of globalization in which Africa has been massively indebted so as to be perpetually marginalized. The Bank is an actor in the globalization agenda of the international financial institutions, which have systematically and deliberately taken advantage of the debt crisis of the 1980s to institute policy regimes which privilege interests of private capital over the well-being of the people (Mkandawire and Soludo, 1999). Societies in Africa have been savaged by SAPs nurtured in a culture of social Darwinism of winners and losers. The problem lies in the reduced space within which countries are now permitted to manage their affairs on account of commitments, often extracted under duress by private and official

creditors. Governments in Africa have been coerced into reducing spending on welfare, especially on education and health. The epicenter of these doctrines lies in the skewed development models validated in major universities, think-tanks, business organizations and business journals in the English-speaking world—principally the United States (Were and Amutabi, 2000; Mbaku, 1999). The globalization agenda is basically for the rich nations, from the European Union to the United States and Canada, which regard the entire world as a gigantic trading field from which obstacles to the reach of the European and American business are to be removed. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is out to ensure this. The purpose of institutional reforms like SAPs is to demolish protective economic and social structures to clear the way for construction of free-market spaces in the image of the North to hasten exploitation (Robertson, 1992; Walters, 1995:86–7). The political culture of Europe and the United States is universalistic and proselytizing, especially with regard to ideologies like democracy and technology like the Internet. The successful unionization of Europe and American triumphalism have put new wind in the sails of a neo-imperialist project to impose their particular brands of ideologies like capitalism and their representational institutions on the rest of the world. Young professionals privileged by the advantage of higher education, including African technocrats trained in graduate schools in Europe and the USA, are attracted to these Northern development fads and paradigms and will jump on these development bandwagons without considering local factors and relevance for such policies for Africa (Were and Amutabi, 2000). Malcolm Walters (1995) has recognized the importance of the Internet in globalization and is very categorical about its United States’ origins and its influence on trans-global patterns of interaction (Walters, 1995:150). The Internet’s academic and research potential that attracts millions of users every day makes it the greatest ensnaring arena for Americanization and will ensure the greatest dependence by Africa and other developing continents of the South (Odedra, 1992b). The AVU is an aftermath of the globalization agenda of the North whose

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main fuel is information technology and dependent human capital in which its main purpose is embodied. It is against this background that the World Bank initiated the AVU, which is assessed under distance education parameters in this paper.

2. Distance education There is no doubt that distance education has the potential and capacity to contribute to growth and expansion of high-quality university education in Kenya (Amutabi, 1997a). In many countries distance learning has indeed proved to be flexible and cost-effective. The University of South Africa (UNISA) has the largest student enrolment in Africa in its distance education programs. Its alumni include several distinguished personalities in Africa, playing very useful roles in the development of their countries (Walters, 1997). The British Open University produces 9 percent of all the undergraduates in Britain each year at a cost of 5 percent of the national university-operating budget (Bates, 1995). More importantly, distance education should enable working people and those students unable to make it to the hard-to-get-into institutions—the majority—to have an opportunity to get high-quality education. As a technology-based distance education alternative, AVU has rightly focused on science, engineering, business and the medical fields. In Kenya, distance education has not been fully developed and has had several obstacles (Amutabi, 1997b). One of the obstacles is the lack of commitment by the government towards adult education. This is evident in the treatment of the department of adult education as part of a leisurely activity together with sports rather than education. There is also the general apathy by the populace and employers who prefer graduates of conventional systems of education rather than those of than distance learning. This is, however, changing. The University of Nairobi is a pioneer in this field in Kenya. Its Faculty of External Studies situated at Kikuyu Campus is perhaps the oldest such center in the region. Since the late 1990s both public and

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private universities in Kenya have been in different phases of the implementation of their own versions of distance education, variously known as “Module II” at the University of Nairobi, “Parallel/ Evening/Alternative degree programs” at Moi University and “Sandwich programs” at Maseno University, and “evening Program” at the United States International University–Africa. These programs have proved very popular and thousands of learners are currently enrolled, with the University of Nairobi carrying the bulk of them. No traditional distance education, especially “tele-learning” and “tele-teaching”, brings about independence of time, location and distance. The fact that one can learn without being absent from work is definitely an advantage. Getting lessons on videotapes and receiving and submitting assignments online means less travel expenses. Doing assignments from any place and without being confined also provides a new freedom that makes the learner in-charge of his/her learning, “in the university without walls”. It would appear that many workers who would not have pursued higher education now have the opportunity to do so, although the high cost of such technologically-dependent type of education, as UNISA currently provides, remains the main obstacle to many Kenyans. The distance education courses have also tended to be arts- and humanities-based. This denies the opportunity to learners that are science-oriented, such as those interested in agriculture. Distance education in Kenya is, however, beginning to move towards science, judging by the parallel programs in sciences at Moi, Egerton and Maseno universities. Another important area that has benefited through distance education has been the improvement of primary (elementary) and secondary (high) schoolteachers, many of whom have enrolled in sandwich programs carried out during school holidays at Kenyatta University and the University of Nairobi. Distance education has geared the teachers to life-long learning and self-improvement. Even the mere realization that learning is a lifelong process is an important addition in the minds of Kenyans. The AVU centers at Kenyatta and Egerton Universities are already pursuing this, although with minimal accomplishments.

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The public universities1 in Kenya were in the past required to train the bureaucrats and high-level manpower needed to meet the demands of the civil service after 1963, when Kenya became independent. The government support to the universities was steady until the late 1970s when Kenya began to undergo a systematic economic decline. The resources allocated to these institutions diminished while at the same time they were required to train an ever-increasing number of students. The universities have expanded to meet the demands but the quality of education has gone down due to the meager resources allocated to them directly by the exchequer, broken down and poorly maintained equipment and poorly stocked libraries, student and staff unrest, unpremeditated closures, the brain drain, over-enrolment and congestion (Amutabi, 2001). Today, many are only empty shells of their former past. The IMF and the World Bank have exacerbated university problems since the late 1980s with the introduction of SAPs in Africa (World Bank, 1988; Mbaku, 1999; Mkandawire and Soludo, 1999). SAPs reduced funding in the education sector and affected universities directly. Student activism and riots as a result of SAPs-related impositions, such as cost sharing and diminishing student loans, have compounded the situation. Yet the demand for education has skyrocketed as education is still regarded as an important bridge of social, economic and political mobility. From total universities’ student enrolment of 8000 in 1985, Kenya had by 1986 a total university student enrolment of 45,000 due to double student intakes ordered by President Daniel Moi in 1986. The number of these institutions is growing and there is no indication that the increase is commensurate with quality. Kenya had only one public university in 1986, and no private university. Today it has six public uni-

versities and over 10 private universities.2 Many of the public universities and their campuses have been promoted from lower institutions previously offering diploma training without commensurate improvement or upgrading of infrastructure. If this blind expansion continues, and there is nothing to indicate that it will not, the quality of university education in Kenya is likely to be at the level of that offered in diploma colleges or may even get worse. The incapacity of local universities to meet local higher education needs has been one of the reasons often invoked for the introduction of the AVU in Kenya. The World Bank states that “The higher education sector in Sub-Saharan Africa suffers severe crisis which manifests itself through exploding enrolments, deteriorating quality standards, insufficient budgets for academic inputs, declining staff to student ratios, low level research and low internal and external efficiency” (World Bank, 2001:2). The irony is that, first, the World Bank is partly to blame for some of these problems for reducing funding to the education sector (World Bank, 1988) and by withholding funding to Kenya since 1990; and second, the Bank has situated the AVU projects in these very campuses instead of first remedying the problems. Other problems are dilapidated infrastructure, political interference in administration, nepotism and sectionalism, administrative incompetence and inertia, and corruption, among others (Amutabi, 2001; Anyang Nyong’o, 1988). The situation is deteriorating (Oketch, 2000; see also Mbaku, 1999). The overriding consequence of all of the above is that universities are in crises and in a state of apathy and decay (Amutabi, 2001). The World Bank’s view on education has essentially been informed by RORE (rate of return on education) and this has had implications for resource allocation to and within the education sector (World Bank 1995b, 1999). Mkandawire and Soludo have argued that the skewed World Bank

1 Kenya’s public universities are the Universities of Nairobi, Kenyatta, Moi, Egerton, Jomo Kenyatta and Maseno.

2 Private universities in Kenya include: University of Eastern Africa, Baraton; United States International University–Africa (USIU-A), Kasarani; Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Langata; Nazarene University, Ongata Rongai; Scott University, Machakos; Daystar University, Athi River; St Paul’s, Limuru; and Kabarak University, Nakuru.

3. SAPS and public universities in Kenya

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computations based on RORE have led to “tragic situations in Africa in which educational institutions have been starved of funding [our emphasis] because of their apparent low rates of return as measured at a particular point in the cycle” (Mkandawire and Soludo, 1999:68). Bennel also criticizes the reliance on RORE and points out that the evidence on RORE used by the Bank to justify reduction of spending on education in Africa is not only ambiguous but also problematic (Bennel, 1996). Appleton and Mackinnon (1996) agree with Bennel. Citing evidence from Kenya, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, South Africa and Uganda, they point out the danger inherent in approaching African countries with similar development models as the Bank does (Appleton and Mackinnon, 1996). After SAPs were introduced in Kenya, the universities in particular and the education sector in general have never been the same. Indeed, Edward Jaycox, the World Bank President for Africa in 1997, represented this picture graphically when he said, “African universities are facing enormous difficulties, including declining budgets, lack of qualified instructors and outdated academic programs that fail to meet local needs” (USA Today, 1997:5). Many of these universities lack the basic communication facilities, especially in information technology. The ratio of learners to computers, books, laboratory equipment, lecturers and other aspects is appalling (World Bank, 1988; Mulamula, 1995). Thus there is no proper learning and the knowledge gap between Kenya and the rest of the world is going to grow even wider. Therefore, we can almost be certain that the economic and social disparity between Kenya with other countries of Africa, south of the Sahara, and the rest of the world will widen at an even more rapid pace. The Kenyan government has failed to equip universities so as to make them become effective instruments of technological innovations, scientific research and industrial development (Opiyo, 1995). The AVU is intended to bring high-quality education to a large number of students in Kenya using modern information technology thereby producing sufficient numbers of well-trained African scientists, technicians, engineers, business managers, etc., required for economic development. This, it

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is argued, the local universities have failed to provide. Because standards at local universities have declined since the late 1980s as a result of inadequate funds and the World Bank and IMF-engineered structural adjustment programs,3 one may be tempted to look at the AVU as the World bank’s solution to the problems it has caused in Kenya’s education. So far there is no indication that the AVU will solve the problems in university learning in Kenya. Evidence indicates that the World Bank imposed the AVU on Kenya, as it does not appear in Kenya’s National Development Plan for 1994– 96 (Republic of Kenya, 1996). In the current National Development Plan, covering 1997–2001, there is only mention of the AVU project at Kenyatta University but not at Egerton University where a second AVU center was established in 2000. Thus it appears that the government of Kenya has insufficient information on the AVU, nor is it aware of the AVU’s long-term goals, objectives and plans in Kenya. The AVU project is financed by a loan from the World Bank and one would have expected a stronger involvement by the government at the feasibility study level. No African government was involved in the feasibility and preparation of the prototype (World Bank 1997, 1999). Kenyatta and Egerton are the two Kenyan universities that were chosen as experimental sites for the AVU project. The AVU is a distance education project established by the World Bank in 1995 to serve the countries of Africa, south of the Sahara. The AVU’s principal objective is to deliver to these African countries university education in the disciplines of science and engineering, noncredit/continuing learning programs and remedial instruction (World Bank, 2001:2–3). It uses modern information technologies to increase access to tertiary education in science and engineering

3 The IMF and World Bank-engineered structural adjustment programs led to the introduction of austerity measures that led to the introduction of cost-sharing in healthcare, education and other sectors. They also led to reduced government spending on education and hence reduced budget allocation to universities. This was the beginning of the decline in quality of university education in Kenya (for more details see Mbaku, 1999; Mkandawire and Soludo, 1999).

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throughout this region. Through this project, the World Bank has established campuses in Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and, more recently, Senegal. The AVU project is part of the Bank’s way of grappling with Africa’s development problems. Its stated objective is to build world-class scientists, technicians, engineers, business managers, healthcare providers and other professionals within Africa as a region that has been lagging behind in the so-called technological age. Currently, it carries out its programs at 26 sites.4

4. The AVU concept in Kenya The AVU was first launched in Kenya at Kenyatta University in April 1998. The AVU is a satellite-based distance education project. It is a network of Internet facilities that uses a multimedia approach to teaching and learning. The AVU learning package comprises live pre-recorded lectures transmitted by satellite and viewed on a television screen plus handouts, textbooks, lecture guidelines and programs/schedules on transmission, and other materials that are transmitted electronically. The AVU network is modeled on the highly successful distance-learning networks operational in the North, especially the United States, Europe, Australia and other parts of the developed world. The materials come from Colorado State University, the University of Massachusetts and New Jersey Institute of Technology in the USA and University College Galway in Ireland (World Bank, 2001:online). In the initial phase the AVU was expected to establish partnerships with a number of institutions of higher learning in the countries of operation and

4

These centers are: University of Accra, University of Cape Coast, University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Egerton and Kenyatta University, University of Namibia, Technikon Southern Africa and University of Pretoria—South Africa, Open University of Tanzania and University of Dar Es Salaam—Tanzania, Makerere University, Martyrs University and Uganda Polytechnic—Uganda, National University of Science and Technology and University of Zimbabwe—Zimbabwe. The latest addition is Francophone Africa in Senegal.

others in the vicinity. They were supposed to provide the nucleus of scientific innovation in education, as centers of excellence. These centers and their satellites were expected to offer technologybased credit courses and non-credit seminars using digital satellite technology. The AVU was supposed to adapt the academic resources from existing videotaped curricula of some of the leading universities in the United States and Europe. Other courses were developed specifically for the AVU by institutions of higher education in Ireland and other European countries. The World Bank states that the courses include “televised instruction from the United States and Ireland in science, mathematics and technology” (World Bank, 2001:4-online). Programs are broadcast to partner institutions in Africa via satellite from the US and Europe. The main contribution of African partners was to engage in reviewing, customizing, and validating and at times merely translating the course materials. The report states that “Courses have been reviewed and validated [our emphasis] by faculty at African partner institutions in Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya and Ghana” (World Bank, 2001:4-online). According to the World Bank, the main aim of the AVU is to tap into new information technologies to overcome the many financial and physical barriers that often prevent students from African universities from gaining access to quality higher education. The argument has been that most African universities have become increasingly irrelevant in the rapidly changing world of globalization (Amutabi, 1997b; Walters, 1997). It should be conceded that African universities often graduate a disproportionate number of students in the humanities rather than in the sciences and engineering, making the AVU project perhaps plausible. However, many governments in Africa are incapacitated by lack of funds yet they are supposedly the custodians of education.

5. Understanding the parameters of the AVU in Kenya That there is need to bring high-quality education to as many people as possible in Kenya is

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a welcome gesture, even a godsend. It is not in dispute that there is a great yearning for high-quality education in Kenya. The inability of the existing institutions to satisfy this need is, from the foregoing, a foregone conclusion. Most universities in Kenya are able to admit only a tiny fraction of eligible students. In the year 2000, Kenya’s public universities admitted only 8000 candidates out of a total of 48,000 who qualified for university education (Daily Nation, 2000). Thus, distance education has proved to be a flexible, cost-effective means of bringing higher education to learners who for one reason or another are unable to attend a national public university; this has been shown in several countries. One of the possible solutions to the existing problem in Kenya has been to send students abroad en masse until the concept of distance education arrived. The next question is how best to do it; that is, the choice of the appropriate technology that will convey learning more meaningfully. Bates (1995) suggests a number of criteria but we will discuss beyond his parameters and thus assess more and elaborate on each. We consider seven very important criteria for Kenya: (i) rationalization, (ii) relevance, (iii) access, (iv) cost, (v) teaching and learning, (vi) sustainability, and (vii) spillover effects. 5.1. Rationalization Rationalization addresses aspects of justification. It is supposed to find out whether the AVU concept, for instance, is better than the alternative distance, open and cooperative concepts of education existing in Kenya. It also should reconcile the programs with the needs, costs and convenience. Is the rush for the Internet and Information Technology in teaching the solution to Kenya’s education problems? Is this not part of the scheme by the North to quickly engage and enhance the captive nature of Africa? There are more urgent issues that need to be tackled to enhance development other than just university education. Kenya has attained only 65 percent literacy, and this is by very conservative estimates. The situation could be worse than this. It means that many citizens are still illiterate. Also the country is faced with a very high level of drop-out at pri-

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mary and secondary school level. Attrition is also very high at the universities especially after the introduction of SAPs in the education sector in Kenya. It means that such a basic issue as retention is still a problem in Kenya. The AVU programs are only of benefit to the elite who can afford the costs, which were introduced since 1999. In October 2000, Kenyatta University students went on a sustained three-day strike demanding withdrawal of the Kshs.500 (approximately US$7) e-mail fee per term imposed by the university administration. The university eventually closed down. Whereas to the university authorities, e-mail appeared to be a priority, it certainly was not to the students. Even if students saw it as a need it was prohibitive because of the cost. The AVU programs are facing the same problems. The fact that the AVU programs require affiliation to a campus makes them similar to the current university set-up in Kenya. University education is lagging behind not because of inadequate technology but because of cost and lack of resources. 5.2. Relevance Here, the concern should be on the capacity and potential of the anticipated program to address and meet local needs and demands. For instance, in the case of the AVU, one should find out if the working environment of the graduate will be in an Internet area as required by the AVU or in deep rural areas where there is no access to the Internet. Will such a graduate, who is computer and Internet dependent, be usefully employed in a working environment devoid of these appliances and connection? Will his/her knowledge be such that it can be improvised to suit local situations or will it be dependent on Northern materials and ideas for the entire life of such a graduate? Is the AVU curriculum responsive to Kenya’s educational needs? Is it providing for Kenya’s labor needs? Will it address or even alleviate the plethora of problems of lack of high-quality manpower experienced in Kenya? Unfortunately, the AVU does not promise to address part or the whole of these problems. As an Internet-dependent education system, its relevance to rural Kenya is out of the question. Kenya is 80 percent rural and much of it is not

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connected to the Internet. Thus the AVU will only address the needs of a tiny fraction of people in urban areas. University graduates are supposed to work in rural areas where they would stimulate development. Since the AVU is Internet and computer dependent, many of the graduates are likely to be irrelevant in rural settings where they would not have ready access to the Internet to consult. Thus, before Kenya establishes a relevant infrastructure for massive Internet learning and utilization, and before a significant proportion of the population is literate, the AVU concept will remain irrelevant. Those funds would be better diverted to improve areas of literacy and information technology infrastructure in existing institutions. Dependency on the Internet rather than on handson-learning is already causing problems in the North. A story is told of a student in the US who was asked the name of the President of Rwanda. She asked for a few moments and quickly clicked on a renowned search engine. When the search engine turned up nothing, the student answered, “Rwanda has no president.” Paul Kagame had been President for six months, having replaced Bizimungu. 5.3. Access This is concerned with the number of people who will have access to learning and flexibility or rigidity of conditions of admission; it has to do with the space available and capacity it can accommodate without compromising standards; it also concerns accessibility to particular technology and learning aids to the learner. It has to do with logistics, that is location of the learning center and its suitability to the learners in general. According to many experts of distance education, accessibility is usually the most important criterion for deciding on the appropriateness of a technology for distance learning (Walters, 1997; Korsgaard, 2000). At present the telecommunication infrastructure in Kenya is limited with regard to the information age. The network is so limited that it will inevitably restrict access to a large number of learners. The AVU has the necessary equipment, but the problem of access to the majority still has to be dealt with. This is because very few Kenyans can

afford the cost of a telephone let alone software. Another problem related to access has to do with location of the AVU centers in Kenya. Kenyatta University is located in Nairobi which renders the AVU services accessible mainly to an urban clientele but inaccessible to the majority rural population. Even the Egerton center is far removed from the deep rural areas. The program should have been set up in such a way as to use local rural centers such as markets and small towns if it were to have a greater impact. Since the centers have been taken to universities, they still perpetuate the ivory tower mentality associated with these institutions with their attendant bureaucracy, iron gates, watchmen, and rigid selection criteria, among others. This hinders access to many. The fact that these centers are located in university towns makes accommodation expensive and beyond the reach of ordinary Kenyans. Those who cannot afford it are automatically excluded. Perhaps it may be feasible to set up the proposed satellite system at a centre like Addis Ababa, where there is some expertise in maintenance, to train a number of individuals who then can use other appropriate technology to reach a large number of students along the lines suggested above. This approach has other benefits, namely to make the most out of the dollar available; the money saved from setting satellite receiver units and equipment at other centers can be used for other needs and machinery that are deemed appropriate for distance learning. Moreover, the individuals so trained would save the cost of having too many consultants and experts that usually accompany such projects, since the few that are trained will already be on the payroll of their institutions. 5.4. Costs This is concerned with the official fees which the individual learner is charged and other incidental or hidden costs like purchase of stationery, uniform, overalls, individual software like diskettes and learning manuals, charges for private use of other services like e-mails, the cost of transport to the learning place from the homes of learners per day, per month, or per semester. It is also concerned with the cost of installation of a certain

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technology vis-a`-vis estimated long-term benefits to the institution and the country; the comparative advantage of the installation with regard to other technologies available on the market and their level of obsoleteness in the near future; and the structure of each technology and its relevance to local conditions. The cost of the technology should not be such that the poor, who are the majority, are excluded. In other words, the costs should not be prohibitive to the institution and the learner. The AVU centers at Kenyatta and Egerton have stateof-art technologies and current computers and Internet servers, TVs, VCRs, and other sophisticated multimedia appliances. The Kenyatta and Egerton University AVU projects cost US$40 million (in Kenya shillings, approximately Kshs.3 billion) and US$20 million (approximately Kshs.1.5 billion) to install, respectively (World Bank, 2001). This is besides the daily costs of running them. According to the Government of Kenya 2001/2002 fiscal budget announced in June 2001, which allocated public universities Kshs.2 billion, the funds used on the AVU can run the public universities for two years. Using the 1999/2000 estimates that allocated universities Kshs.500,000,000, the money can run public universities for five years. The AVU capacity at Kenyatta University is 80 students at any given time and this is set to double by the end of 2001. The University of Egerton, which is relatively new, can only accommodate 40 students. The student numbers are limited to the number of computers and the few instruction rooms available. In their regular programs, Kenyatta and Egerton Universities’ student enrolments stand at approximately 15,000 and 10,000, respectively. Their evening/part-time classes that use conventional ways of teaching have enrolments of 1000 and 500 students for Kenyatta and Egerton, respectively. This means that the conventional methods of teaching have more advantages than the AVU in terms of cost and number of learning opportunities. Setting up an arts-based extra class of about 50 students for the evening/part-time program often requires little more than a good classroom/lecture theater and using existing staff and resources. AVU requires more extensive investment in infrastructure, equipment, staff and

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technician training. With the latest computer models costing about Kshs.140,000 (about US$2000) in Kenya, the AVU is a pipe dream for many public universities. On fees charged by the AVU see Table 1. Kenyatta University charges between US$3200 and 3500 (approximately between Kshs.240,000 and 262,500) per semester, meaning that annually the cost of an AVU course is about US$6400 (Kshs.480,000). This is the cost of an entire degree course in a regular program at any university in Kenya (University of Nairobi, 2001). Even for one semester, the fee at the AVU is almost double the fee charged for regular/ordinary programs at the same university, which costs Kshs.140,000 per year (University of Nairobi, 2001). At the University of Nairobi a similar ordinary undergraduate program costs US$2000 (approximately Kshs.140,000). Thus AVU programs cost more than the most expensive locally operated course such as architecture, medicine, engineering, etc. The cost is very prohibitive to ordinary parents who even have problems paying the lower local fees. So what makes the World Bank imagine that the lack of funds afflicting the students in local universities will not affect the AVU? The Bank states that “the African Virtual University . . . will selffinance during the operational phase through student tuition” (World Bank, 2001:2). In the Bank’s final feasibility study on the AVU it stated that “AVU seeks to sustain its operations by income from tuition and service fees within three years” (World Bank, 1997). With the current poverty levels in Kenya, these are very unrealistic expectations. It is foolhardy to imagine that the same students who cannot afford subsidized fees at public universities will now afford hyper-fees simply because the learning is cyber-based. One also notices double standards in the Bank’s dealing with Africa. The Bank has persistently opposed increased spending in the social realms by governments. Now the same Bank approves spending on the AVU simply because it is from its desk. The money invested in AVU appliances and high fees could have been used to improve the current problems in local universities. The World Bank and other donors are currently covering the

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Table 1 Fees charged by the African Virtual University (AVU) University

Cost

AVU Kenyatta AVU Egerton University of Nairobi Kenyatta University Regular Jomo Kenyatta

US$3200–3500 (Kshs.240,000–262,500) per term US$3200–3500 (Kshs.240,000–262,500) per term US$2000 (Kshs.140,000) per year US$2000 (Kshs.140,000) per year US$2000 (Kshs.140,000) per year

Sources: Egerton, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenyatta University and the University of Nairobi web pages.

initial costs for the technologies chosen in AVU projects. These funds are in the form of loans or grants, meaning that at one time the Kenyan taxpayer will be called upon to repay money even though he has no say in directing how it is spent, and part of which was spent in the North in socalled feasibility studies. It is envisaged that AVU centers will eventually be self-sustaining institutions and that they will survive by charging fees from their students. This indeed should be the objective but the question is, should the money obtained as a loan or a grant be spent on expensive hardware that will not be maintained adequately when the donor pulls out? From experiences in other sectors, one may wonder whether these centers will be properly maintained and sustained in the long term. The programs are designed in the North where “participating universities in USA and Ireland will provide (pre)packaged academic programs, particularly in science, engineering and business” (Okuni, 2000:6). Okuni says “African universities are expected to begin originating their programs in the final phase” (Okuni, 2000). Hence the AVU programs are enhancing dependency which many African governments should be striving to steer away from. It is therefore very important that careful consideration be given to the appropriate choice of technology as some technologies are very expensive yet achieve little. Needless to say, this does not imply that Kenya should be choosing outdated technology for distance learning but at the same time it should not grab the latest technology which may not be appropriate for their needs. A careful analysis of the available technologies should have been made, taking into consideration

the country’s existing telecommunication infrastructure, what each technology can achieve given the fields of study chosen, its adaptability to changing needs and circumstances and, of necessity, its cost and sustainability in Kenya. 5.5. Teaching and learning Teaching and learning should always go together. What is therefore critical is that the teaching should be in such a way that the learners can imbibe readily without obstacles such as accents, newness to technology, unfamiliarity of vocabulary, etc. These concern the kind of learning that is needed by society, and the instructional approaches that best meet these needs. Teaching should always take into consideration the background of the learner if it is to succeed. Learning can only be smooth if the learner and the teacher are properly reconciled with regard to their aims and objectives. The AVU uses a multimedia approach to teaching and learning. The learning package comprises live or pre-recorded lectures transmitted by satellite and viewed on television screens, plus handouts, textbooks and other materials which are transmitted electronically. The courses and curricula designed in European and US universities are the ones that the AVU administers through tele-teaching, with typical American or British accents which even the seasoned Africans living in the North at times take a while to fathom. The differences and problems of British and American English are legion. Many countries usually adopt one but not both as they are often incompatible on spelling, pronunciation and intonation. The Kenyan learner at the AVU centers is con-

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fronted by these problems which the learner in the North is spared. Certain textbooks and teaching materials produced in the North do not have direct application and relevance to Kenya, as the issues mentioned may be irrelevant and perpetually foreign. The courses have obviously been developed with a certain background in culture, technology and relevance in mind, which by and large are those of the North. Even examples and illustrations are naturally Northern inclined even if the Bank insists that the “Courses have been reviewed and validated by faculty at African partner institutions” (World Bank, 2001:4). There ought to be more discussion on this so that the AVU should be flexible enough to accommodate the differences that exist in cultures, infrastructure, developmental priorities and political realities so that each country can reap the maximum benefit the project has to offer by developing their own curriculum and not merely adding or validating. From what is available at the moment, Kenyan students may feel alienated and even confused by these materials if these differences are not recognized. There is a need to develop and design materials according to local needs and hence a need for country-specific materials in course description and designs rather than a general holistic treatment of courses. One major problem existing in institutions of higher education in Kenya is their inability to adapt easily to changing needs and circumstances. But this is not out of choice. It is dictated to them by the availability of finances more than a conscious decision to remain behind. Whereas there is need to change, the approach to teaching and what needs to be taught has to be dictated by local demands and needs. Not all that is relevant in the North is relevant for Africa. Most of the curricula pursued at AVU centers have been largely adopted from US and European institutions with very minimal local input (World Bank 1999, 2001). This might have been all right when higher education was first introduced in Africa but is are not necessarily relevant at this time in Kenya’s development. The AVU’s distance education project seems to fall into the same trap of perpetuating dependencies in learning and teaching, and will therefore stifle any local innovation, invention and discovery since

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Kenya is made to become a net recipient and consumer of programs developed in the North. 5.6. Sustainability This has to do with the period when the funding from the World Bank comes to an end. It is concerned with whether the local universities will maintain the projects with their shoestring budgets. It is interested in finding the best and most convenient technologies for supporting the teaching and earning. Can Kenya, in whatever form, governmentally or through private entrepreneurs, be able to continue the project once donor funds are exhausted? This is where the cost criterion becomes important. The cost of the technology chosen should be such that Kenya will be able to afford and maintain it when the World Bank withdraws but this is not the case. This is of immense importance since there are many examples of donor-initiated well-meant projects that have folded after donor funding was discontinued, mainly because not enough thought was put into their sustainability when the projects were launched. From what has happened at Kenyatta University, where students have resisted the AVU facilities like the e-mail service, it seems that the sustainability of the AVU experiment in Kenya may be doomed to failure. 5.7. Spillover effects To what extent will this type of education affect the educational environment, the country as a whole? Is it capable of influencing development? Can others also learn from the graduates of such a system independent of where they themselves trained? If not, then the system is only establishing dependency structures which will affect generation after generation. In 2000, the AVU at Kenyatta University trained 200 teachers in computer literacy, introductory and advanced Internet use. They were also taken through a program on multimedia teaching (Aduda, 2000). Considering that Kenya has close to 300,000 teachers, 200 are a mere drop in the ocean. Furthermore, some of the teachers were from rural schools where access to electric power and telephone is non-existent to the majority

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of schools and computers are beyond reach. Therefore, in as much as the AVU objectives may be noble, their effect is of very limited impact in Kenya, and in any African country for that matter. Thus from the onset, the AVU is destined to serve a very limited clientele. If this clientele are trained with the intention that they will train others through similar or other appropriate training, the effects of the inevitable brain drain will be moderate. If, for example, a program of study is initiated for fairly knowledgeable young instructors at the university, they can train others. For instance, high school and primary school teachers can be trained during the summer by some of these staff members, as Kenyatta University has done, but on a much large scaler if it hopes to tip the scales. Given the appropriate technological support, these schoolteachers will be able to teach a large number of students barring the lack of access to computers in many schools. The obvious lack of preparedness and/or interest shown by students in the science and technological fields will be bettered by this approach rather than attempting to give remedial courses. However, the issue goes back to financial investment because these schools will require an electricity supply, computers, and upgrading of software. This is the burden that the World Bank and the IMF have been removing from the Government in Kenya. Such short-term training has extended to the private sector in Kenya who appear to be more interested in the AVU programs and who can afford the fees anyway. Previous experience has shown that many of these organizations will be willing to pay for such training if it is demonstrated to them that such training is beneficial. The few that are so trained, when they go back to their respective institutions, can conduct their own inhouse training and will demonstrate how useful such training is by improved output/efficiency/cost saving, etc. This will lead to better remuneration for the individuals involved and will encourage others to improve themselves through distance education. Such results might perhaps reduce the fear and skepticism of many administrators and policy makers for free flow of information and knowledge. Convincing such people that free flow

and acquisition of knowledge and information will substantially help in the economic development and stability of a country and that it will not necessarily be a threat to their power and existence is a major problem in introducing telematics for distance education in Kenya, as in most countries of Africa south of the Sahara. Africa is the least connected continent to the Internet in the world due to lack of technical and well-trained human resources (Odedra, 1990; Odedra, 1992b). Africa is also least connected for lack of political concern and the will to establish connectivity (Knight, 1995). Knight points out that in many countries in Africa inefficient monopolistic state telecommunication companies are preventing the free flow of information. In Kenya this is worse because the Telecommunications Corporation of Kenya (Telekom) remains the only concern dealing in telecommunications networks. Attempts by the IMF and the World Bank to arm-twist President Daniel Moi’s government into liberalizing the sector have been unsuccessful. Then there is the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) which is in charge of licensing of Internet servers, FM radio and TV stations, cellular phone operators, and so forth. Communication equipment of news networks and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has been confiscated, cannibalized or destroyed mainly for suspicion of dealing in subversion. Others have been denied licenses to operate because they are suspected to be in support of the opposition political parties. Successful and meaningful Internet and multimedia learning cannot go on in such an atmosphere of intolerance and information censorship (Lutta-Mukhebi and Amutabi, 2000).

6. Advantages of AVU to Kenya The AVU library concept is particularly fascinating. The university instructors and their students would have access to online journals and archived materials, participate in online discussion groups (e-groups), subscribe to list servers, etc. The staff could keep up with developments through short courses and have access to the libraries in the developed countries through the AVU’s electronic

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library. Interaction with faculties in the developed countries might even lead to joint research projects on crucial problems of development in Africa south of the Sahara. This would be beneficial to the country, the institution and the individual. But such benefits are going to come in the long term and hence there is the need to make sure the AVU project is sustainable. The greatest advantage of the AVU is perhaps its projected aim of preserving Africa’s rare collections through scanning and digitization. This will make these rare documents and material available more easily to online researchers, students, the academic community and the public. The other aim of promoting online publishing of work by African scholars is also likely to make an interesting contribution.

7. The disadvantages of AVU in Kenya The AVU has certain disadvantages inherent in it. The AVU has been seen by some scholars as merely enhancing the global hegemony of the North in the globalization matrix (Amutabi, 1997b). The fact that the hardware, software and learning packages come from universities in the North enhances the validity of these suspicions and fears. The AVU’s misfortunes are worsened by the fact that the same World Bank that has called for reduced spending by governments in education in Africa is the very one now advocating this luxurious and more expensive educational approach. This is double speaking, a paradox. Like any other distance education program, the AVU intends to save the African governments’ scarce foreign exchange by keeping the students in the home countries still pursuing foreign education. The AVU, therefore, seems to want to alleviate the problem of demand for places at universities in Africa. Whereas the aim, as it may appear, is to save money, the complete opposite is in fact the case. The AVU programs are generated in the North, hence capital transfer still takes place through purchase and importation of equipment, much of it already obsolete by the standards of the North. It uses a lot of money in the design of its programs and expertise in consultations. Many stu-

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dents have already shown their inability to pay beyond the pilot phase in the AVU programs. Micro and macro economic conditions have increased rural and urban poverty in Kenya. This has reduced the purchasing power of many Kenyans and hence their capacity to support higher education privately has been diminished. Even those who go to private universities in Kenya and those who pursue parallel or evening degree studies at the public universities are sons and daughters of “the haves”. Thus the AVU education is limited to the rich, which runs counter to the AVU idea of expanding education opportunities for all. A significant proportion of the population will thus be unable to pay at AVU centers. The telecommunication system on which e-mail relies plays a very important role in the AVU program. Whereas e-mail may be quick and efficient, and even cheap, there must be an infrastructure to make it operational. There are today many private entrepreneurs providing Internet services in Kenya, especially in Nairobi, but these developments must be seen as the backdrop to a very high user-cost and poor state of basic communications. Unstable, unreliable and insufficient power supply in Kenya, which has just undergone a 16-month powerrationing program, is a case in point. Also unreliable and congested telephone links, unaffordable cost of telecommunications (telephone, fax, e-mail, etc.) services are known obstacles. Furthermore, the World Wide Web is not really independent of the user’s locality, it currently constitutes a mere possibility in Kenya. The AVU concept may sound very flowery and appealing but the empirical and experiential conditions in Kenya dictate otherwise. In as much as its goals are good and aimed at leapfrogging African University education, it is too optimistic and takes very many factors in Kenya and Africa for granted. For example, at a very basic level, a telephone line and a personal computer for each lecturer is taken for granted in the North but is still a luxury in many Kenyan universities. It is expecting too much to expect the same lecturer who has no access to a telephone line and a computer to begin using the Internet to send assignments and results to students by e-mail. Even the laptop computer that is used to reinforce the view that this mode of educational communication

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will be easy to access costs a lot of money by Kenyan standards. The cheapest laptop models from Casio, Dell and Gateway and the phased-out Macintosh models cost about Kshs.35,000 (about US$500) and are far beyond the reach of an average Kenyan student who will require this kind of money to sustain him/herself comfortably for an entire academic year at a local university. Because the World Wide Web is not really independent of the user’s location, it constitutes a mere potentiality in Kenya. Mere ownership of a battery- or dry-cell-operated laptop does not amount to Internet connectivity without a telephone connection and local area server or network. The online digital library is a brilliant idea and would boost the current intellectual stagnation due to lack of current literature in the university libraries in Kenya. It would create the globalization connection in knowledge so much in vogue today. It is true that many libraries are slowly turning into archives. However, the use of the digital library really depends on the easy access, extension, availability and ability to maintain and use a network of computing services. There is still widespread and inadequate computer literacy and facilities in Kenya. Some lecturers in Kenyan universities and their students are still computer shy and also unfamiliar with using the new infotech and Internet because this is a process that must be learned gradually (Amutabi, 1997a). Africa’s share of the worldwide telephone network is just 2 percent, and only 1 percent of the computers in use in the world (Amutabi, 1997b; Mulamula, 1995; Odedra, 1992a). The AVU would have been a great idea if computers were as easily available in Africa as transistor radios. Even at AVU centers the computer hardware and software is far below the speed and sophistication seen in the universities in the North. Many of these facilities are years behind what is considered in the North as state-of-theart appliances. Computer hardware and software and other equipment at the two AVU centers in Kenya are obsolete, going by the standards of the level of technology currently available in the North. They are far from what is considered as state-of-the-art technology even in the poorest institutions in the North. By the time the hardware, software and

other equipment are shipped to Kenya they are already being phased out in the North. The IBM 546 has, for instance, been replaced by the Pentium, the e-mail programs in the North have already experienced revolutionary innovations in speed and capacity of attachments, while the AVU centers in Kenya are marooned in the technologies of the 1990s. Thus, like the objectives of globalization of the North, for which the World Bank is part responsible, the AVU provides a dumping ground for obsolete technology that is presented as a loan to the gullible Kenyan taxpayers. The AVU threatens to create islands of excellence, “Ivory Towers” away from the rest of other learning centers in Kenya. Policy makers in Kenya as elsewhere in the world are grappling with ways of removing the “Ivory Tower” mentality that surrounds many universities and isolates them from the rest of society. Policy makers would like more interaction and linkage between university research and the real needs of the country at a very local level. Through the AVU’s globalization endeavors and the attendant high rates of technological transformation, the convergence of telecommunications, computers, satellites, televisions, fiber optic technologies, and internet-dependent learning all help in the isolation of the university from the rest of the Kenyans.

8. Concluding remarks The African Virtual University is a timely project which will, however, require careful adjustments to the realities and needs of Kenya without causing friction. The AVU is already causing problems to its host institutions because of its incompatibility. Kenyatta University was closed in October 2000 because students rioted over e-mail charges imposed by the institution (a mere Kshs.500 or less than $10 per term) to use the AVU facilities. Following the strike, 36 students were suspended and four expelled from the university. This is already casting doubts on the AVU’s acceptability according to opposition by learners at Kenyatta University. Participants in any project provide the best gauge of its success and failure. The events unfolding at Kenyatta University indi-

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cate a strand of failure. The AVU would be better placed to start free limited access to its services to slowly ensnare the student population. At a later stage, when students realize the benefits, a fee can justifiably be charged for services such as Internet connection. This way, there will be no animosity as is the case at Kenyatta University. Moi University in Kenya started such a free scheme for staff and students with aid from the Dutch government. After users got “hooked” on the Internet cafe´ services, a small fee was introduced and has gradually been increased to levels that make the operation viable. Kenya has an official literacy level of 65 percent. In some rural districts in eastern and northeastern provinces, literacy levels are as low as 30 percent (Amutabi, 1997b:197). For the AVU to pick up momentum and be received enthusiastically, literacy levels should have been addressed first through the government. The poor state of learning environments in local universities also needed to be addressed first even if the rate of return to the World Bank would have been minimal here. Popularization of the use of the computer and its enhanced availability should have preceded the project. The project is supposed to be a quick solution to Africa’s problems in higher education, where “tertiary institutions were overwhelmed with problems related to access, finance, quality, efficiency—-” and therefore not able to meet these challenges. Mismanagement, which is the root cause of the problems, is therefore ignored. All the AVU projects are situated on university campuses that have been associated with the problems listed above. One therefore wonders about the rationale of the World Bank. The problems are deep-rooted and require whole-encompassing solutions. There is mounting concern that sees the AVU as part of globalization or “Washingtonization” or “Microsoftization” of the world. In Kenya, just like elsewhere in Africa where there is only one computer per 10,000 people or even less in rural areas, one does not really expect Internet teaching to succeed. In a country where the majority of the students come from poor families, and there is almost no prior computing knowledge, one expects too much to be able to begin instruction in computers. The fact that some students meet computers for the

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first time only at the AVU campuses makes it even trickier. Scholars are also increasingly questioning the type of learning that goes on for a limited period of time at AVU centers, to be able to produce the “experts” the World Bank requires. The dependence on the computer will make the graduates helpless if they are to work in rural outposts where there is no access to a computer. Therefore, there is a need to make the AVU part and parcel of ordinary learning rather than isolating its students from the rest. Tele-teaching should be gradually introduced in all the subject areas gradually for the fever to catch up, and only then can the AVU blossom. Distance education has been in existence in Kenya before independence in 1963. Thus the AVU idea is not really novel and its haphazard implementation is indicative of the arrogance of many projects of the World Bank in Africa like the SAPs. They are often imposed on people without due regard to their feelings and ignore their inputs. The fact that the AVU did not appear in the last Kenya National Development Plans before its sudden appearance on the scene is indicative of such imposition. Not even the government was prepared for the project and so could not spread awareness. Project implementations and appraisals do not, of course, at times require referendums as in political decisions but courtesy demands a semblance of measurement of feeling of would-be beneficiaries. There is obvious duplication of purpose between the AVU projects and the current twinning of Kenyan universities with European or US universities. Many of the efforts of the universities in the North in Kenya and elsewhere are duplicated by the AVU centers, hence there is misuse of resources that could be better put to other uses. The AVU has moved in from a position of superiority compared to the partner universities from the North which come into Kenya as collaborators and partners, and this brings about a large difference. There is, therefore, a need for the World Bank to realize and appreciate the fact that partnerships last longer than policy impositions, as SAPs have shown and the AVU is now showing. As long as costs to gain access to education and the Internet are higher in Africa than in the North, money will continue to mark the dividing line

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between knowledge and ignorance. There is the appeal of neo-liberal policies to Galbraith’s “contented classes” who find economic philosophies that favor them. The World Bank may even increase its centers in Kenya but, as long the cost remains high, its aim of making high-quality educational opportunities available to many Kenyans will remain a mirage. In Kenya, income disparities are wide and are bound to widen even more with this kind of privileged access. The World Bank also needs to reconcile and resolve the paradox of the AVU in Africa with its SAPs in the region. It is the SAPs that have led to the decay of education in African universities and the AVU cannot undo the damage. Economic policies based on methodological individualism produce neither stability nor sustainable growth. The efforts need to be more concentric, purposeful and more focused than what the AVU is doing. One cannot attain the targets that the AVU envisages with the current levels of impoverishment in Africa, where people are barely surviving. It was supposed to enhance access but because of cost, this may not be realized. Instead, only the upper classes can afford it. The AVU is therefore creating and enhancing societal stratification, because only the children of the rich can afford its costs and are computer literate. It is the rich who venture into the AVU campuses, as the others are still computer shy. The AVU is obviously out of step with not only Kenya but with almost the whole of Africa south of the Sahara. References Aduda, D., 2000. Computer studies getting popular with teachers. Daily Nation, 4 September. Ali, A.A.G., 1998. Structural adjustment and poverty in SubSaharan Africa: 1985–1995. In: Mkandawire, T., Soludo, C.C. (Eds.). African Perspectives on Structural Adjustment, vol. 2. International Development Research Center (IDRC), Ottawa, Canada. Amutabi, M.N., 1997a. The plight of adult education in Kenya. In: Walters, S. (Ed.) Globalization, Adult Education and Training: Impacts and Issues. Zed Books, London, pp. 196–201. Amutabi, M.N., 1997b. Globalization and its impact on higher education in Africa: problems and prospects. The case of Kenya. In: Conference Proceedings of the Southern African Society of Education, Pretoria, 5–6 July 1997. Southern African Society of Education, Johannesburg, pp. 1–17.

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Africa: towards a sustainable development agenda. In: Mbaku, J.M. (Ed.) Preparing Africa for the Twenty-first Century: Strategies for Peaceful Co-existence and Sustainable Development. Ashgate, Brookfield, USA, pp. 119–150. Mkandawire, T., Soludo, C.C., 1999. Our Continent, Our Future: African Perspectives on Structural Adjustment. Africa World Press, Trenton, New Jersey and Asmara, Eritrea. Mulamula, G., 1995. The role of information technology (IT) and barriers to its development in East African region. Paper presented at the First Kenya Information Technology Conference, KICC, Nairobi, 2–28 December. Odedra, M., 1990. Information technology transfer to developing countries: cases from Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Doctoral Dissertation, London School of Economics. Odedra, M., 1992a. Much more than human resource development for Africa. In: Bhatnagar, S.C. (Ed.) Information Technology Manpower: Key Issues for Developing Countries. McGraw-Hill, London, pp. 189–200. Odedra, M., 1992b. Enforcement of foreign technology on Africa: its effect on society, culture, and utilization of information technology. In: Beardon, C., Whitehouse, D. (Eds.) Social Citizenship in the Information Age. McGraw-Hill, London, pp. 143–154. Okuni, A., 2000. Higher education through the internet: expectations, reality and challenges of the African Virtual University. D+C Development and Cooperation 2, 23–25. Opiyo, E.T.O., 1995. Reflections on expert systems for developing countries. Paper presented at the First Kenya Information Technology Conference, KICC, Nairobi, 2–28 December. Republic of Kenya, 1996. National Development Plan, 1997– 2001. Government Printer, Nairobi.

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