Promoting Excellence in Academic Institutions – The NCC-DBI Experience Prof. U.G. Danbatta Vice President Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), Abuja, Nigeria Paper presented at the ITU Regional Workshop on ICT Competencies Development in the Telecommunication and Education Sectors in Africa, held in Bujumbura, Burundi from 14 – 18 May 2012

DIGITAL BRIDGE INSTITUTE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR COMMUNICATIONS STUDIES Abuja, Lagos and kano

3 NIGERIAN COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION COMPLEX, ABUJA, NIGERIA

The Digital Bridge Institute (DBI) is an initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Nigerian Communications Commission OUR MAKE UP DBI was established in May 2004

 By combining education, training, scholarship and research of highest quality, and a commitment to student/client welfare, DBI shall become a world-class centre of excellence in Telecommunications and Information Technology training and education. VISION STATEMENT

“To contribute to the creation of a knowledge- based information society in Africa, through human resource capacity building in the Information and Communications Technology” MISSION STATEMENT

DBI CAMPUSES  Note: New campuses are under construction in Abuja, Adamawa and Asaba.  DBI has three campuses

Abuja Campus

Lagos Campus

Kano Campus

 Telecommunication Engineering  Telecommunication Technology  Telecommunication Management  Information System Engineering  Information System Management  Information System Productivity tools  Telecommunication Regulation, Policy and Law  Management and Leadership Development ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL TRAINING PROGRAMMES

Advanced Digital Appreciation Programme For Tertiary Institutions (ADAPTI)  Background: Analog/Digital transformation  Year of commencement: 2006  Target Academic Institutions: (i) Universities (Private & Public) (ii) Polytechnics & Monotechnics (iii) Colleges of Education (iv) Other tertiary institutions INTERVENTION TRAINING PROGRAMMES

Advanced Digital Appreciation Programme For Tertiary Institutions (ADAPTI)  Target Participants: (i) Vice Chancellors/Rectors/Provosts (ii) Professors (iii) Academic & Non-academic Staff  Total Institutions trained: Over 300  Total Participants trained: 10,000 approx. INTERVENTION TRAINING PROGRAMMES CONTD.

Digital Appreciation Programme (DAP) For Secondary Schools  Target Schools: (i) Federal Secondary Schools/Colleges (ii) State Secondary Schools/Colleges  Target Participants: (i) Teachers (ii) Students INTERVENTION TRAINING PROGRAMMES CONTD.

 Meeting Goal 8 of the MDGs, Target 16  DBI was granted approval as an Innovation Enterprise Institute by the NBTE to run Diploma Programmes in: (i) Networking and System Security (ii) Computer Hardware Engineering (iii) Computer Software Engineering (iv) Digital Multimedia Technology (v) Telecommunication Technology  Target audience: Youth in the age bracket: INNOVATION ENTERPRISE PROGRAMMES

 Providing Infrastructure and  Infrastructure support services: (i) Schools Access Programme (ii) Tertiary Institutions Access Programme (iii) E-Libaray Facilities (iv) Narrowband and Broadband Telecommunications Networks (iv) Electricity supply to complement mains supply in schools NCC’S ACCESS PROGRAMMES

Conclusion From its establishment by the NCC in June 2004, the DBI has strived to fulfill its mandate in capacity building for the telecom sector of the Nigerian economy through carefully designed academic and professional programmes in the diverse areas of ICT. Through the intervention of the NCC, it has introduced capacity–building programmes for tertiary and non-tertiary institutions that promoted excellence in the beneficiary institutions leading to a much desired paradigm shift in content delivery which is also ICT-based. 17