Workshop Overview

The National University of Singapore offers a comprehensive curriculum fusing technology and social science-based inquiry to prepare students to face the "economy, society and polity of the information age." A research group at the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras develops technologies for low income and rural areas and fosters entrepreneurial businesses that service these communities. An institute within De la Salle University organizes e-governance workshops for the League of Cities and develops policy papers for the national government. A research center at the Universidad de la Frontera in Chile works with community members, the private sector and government agencies to support a network of 32 telecenters servicing low income and indigenous people. 

What these programs have in common is a strong commitment to linking the opportunities of the information revolution to the specific developmental needs of their communities. They are accomplishing this through innovative programs in teaching, research and outreach that are at the core of the university mission, reconfiguring the relationships between these activities, and opening up the ivory tower. We label these activities "university ICT4D programs," because they take on different challenges from more widespread ICT education programs in IT fluency, e-Learning, distance learning and the like.

Yet, the role of the university in contributing to ICT4D is little understood, underappreciated, and given too little attention given the importance many observers attribute to higher education if countries in the developing world are to make the transition to knowledge societies. These deficits exist in society generally, the international community, and even within the university community itself.

The Manila workshops will convene representatives of universities, education and ICT ministries, and development institutions and foundations to:

  • Expand the community of practice among the academic, government and private sectors dedicated to strengthening the role of the university in ICT-enabled development

  • Share best practices of how universities around the world are teaching, researching and applying university knowledge in ICT to national and local development initiatives

  • Advance and refine an intellectual agenda about the role of the university in building knowledge societies broadly, and in preparing citizens to create, maintain and survive it.

  • Construct local, national, regional and international initiatives for expanding and enhancing university ICT4D programs, with a particular focus on collective action

This workshop builds on earlier conversations at Makarere University (September 2004), Cornell University (November 2004), the Social Science Research Council (2003), and WSIS (December 2003) among others.

This workshop is organized by the University of Washington and De La Salle University.

 

Background