1. Global University Network for Africa Abdus Salam International Centre of Theoretical Physics of UNESCO October 24th, 2008 GUNA

2. Global University Network for Africa Objectives 1 - An adequate network infrastructure in academia ● key universities connected by satellite links ● terrestrial wireless connections 2 - Network operation and development personnel training ● ICT for academy ● Wireless networking e-learning 3 - Content Delivery Platform A web based system to enable local access to higher education, scientific knowledge and dissemination 5 – Assessing and measuring the effectiveness of the project 4 - Educational Activities ● local lecturers and scientists trained in the frame of GUNA ● collaboration between African universities ● distance learning

3. GUNA - Preliminary Study Telecommunication Network Overview Remote campus Campus Remote dept. Campus central building VSAT remote station VSAT satellite VSAT hub EU Campus US Campus Internet backbone AFRICA World

4. GUNA - Preliminary Study 1 - VSAT Network The outcome of this task should be the definition of: ● “state of the art” of VSAT based networks ○ bandwidth ○contention ratio vs costs ○supported services ○ cost/year or cost/GB + traffic per year ● desiderata for an efficient network (depending on content delivery platform + educational content) ( say: basic hypothetical requirements for the network to be consolidated with the conclusions of the other parts of the preliminary study ) ● traceability matrix

5. GUNA - Preliminary Study 2 - VSAT Network - Personnel training The outcome of this task should be the definition of: ● organization of personnel (e.g. coordination, operation, maintenance) ● personnel profile (language spoken, technical skills, etc) ● trainer profile (language spoken, technical skills, etc) ● material to be prepared ● rough estimation of effort (man/months) for preparing the courses, hold the courses and remote support This task is strongly dependent on task Vsat Network, Content Delivery Platform

6. GUNA - Preliminary Study 3 - Content Delivery Platform The outcome of this task should be the definition of: ● “state of the art” (in site and potentially available) of tools and databases for shared knowledge and distance learning including a classification (e.g. open source/proprietary, centralized/distributed, etc.) ● classification of educational material carried by the network ● virtual library ● articles, references, e-books,..... ● lessons ● e-papers (pdf,...) ● recorded lessons (mp4,....) ● live lessons (streaming,....) ● seminars, conferences ● other media (e.g. web conferences/meetings, etc) ● estimation of database size normalized to a prototype course and depending on methodologies/services used ● estimation of satellite network traffic needs for database synchronization ● suggestions/directions on choices to be made vs. cost/performance

7. GUNA - Preliminary Study 4 - Educational Activities The outcome of this task should be the definition of: ● result of the preliminary research for potentially available competences (faculties, professors, etc.) and potential time lines. ● categories of educational contents: available (state of the art), already in use in Africa (see questionnaire), nice to have and related traceability matrix. ● suggestion/choice of best / more significant /more suitable educational contents to be implemented ● copyright issues ● for each of educational content: ● estimation of effort for a typical “education package” build up in collaboration with local universities and depending on their needs: ● teaching team (Africa) individuation ● training team (EU) individuation ● teaching team training (made by EU) ● target course definition ● preparation of material (made by EU) ● feasibility of laboratory / experimental activities ● remote support for students This task is partially dependent on tasks VSAT Network and Content Delivery Platform.

8. GUNA 5 - Assessment The outcome of this task should be the definition of a way of measuring and assessing the effectiveness of the actions implemented in GUNA. Some of the parameters to be taken into account are: ● Number of sites in which the connectivity may be improved ● Increase in number of people having access to the internet ● Increase in quantity of e-material accessible ● Increase in number of courses offered by the universities ● Increase in number of people having access to the courses ●......

9. GUNA Conclusions More information available @ http://guna.ictp.it Any questions ? Thank you for your kind attention ! “.....reduce the isolation of African universities by encouraging and stepping up the exchange, production and dissemination of educational information.”