The National Universities Commission (NUC) Thursday held discussions with Information and Communications Technology (ICT) directors from federal universities on the drafted policy on ICT in federal universities.
The executive secretary of NUC, Professor Abubakar Rasheed represented by the deputy executive secretary (administration), Kidado Kumo, said the purpose for calling the meeting was for all ICT directors in federal universities to make input in the final document before its submission to the NUC board.
He said the discussion was expected to be focused on the installations and the standards that shall guide the ICT in Nigerian universities thereby assuring the ICT industry’s best practices.
He added that every sector of the National economy is ICT-driven and the advancement of ICT application in the education system is far reaching.
Rasheed said the goal was to ensure sufficient deployment and good use of ICT in teaching, learning and research in universities which must be preceded by a robust ICT policy documentation as well as a practical guideline.
“The new discipline of computing now has about five-degree programmes in Nigerian universities comprising of the conventional BSc Computer Science, BSc Software Engineering, BSc Cyber Security, BSc Information Technology and BSc Information Systems,” he said.
Rasheed said seven universities have already keyed into the programmes beyond the computer science known with institutions in Nigeria.
He encouraged directors of ICT in universities to collaborate to share knowledge and resources and establish a functional committee of directors of ICT in universities, assuring them that the NUC will continue to produce policies in consultation with the university system.
In his speech, the director of research, innovation and information technology, Lawal Mohammed Faruk, said although he had received various comments from various university ICT directors, all opinions would be well discussed in the debate.
Faruk thanked the directors for coming to the venue and reassured that NUC will ensure that the opinions of the directors are considered before the document is submitted.
