Dr. S.S. Tickodri - Togboa Ag. DVC (F&A) –Makerere University

1. A Position Paper on the Formation of the National Remote Engineering Consortium“Enriching Science Education through Remote Engineering” Dr. S.S. Tickodri- Togboa Ag. DVC (F&A) –Makerere University Principal Investigator – iLabs@MAK Project Imperial Royale Hotel, Kampala November 27, 2009

2. Presentation Outline • The Relevance of Remote Engineering • Current Trend in Higher Education • The National Remote Engineering Consortium • Consortium Goals • Values: Mission, Vision, Code of Ethics • Membership • Consortium Activities • Governance • Expectations and Privileges • Case Study: Internet2 • Conclusion

3. Remote Engineering • A current trend in Engineering and Science, aiming to allow and organize a shared use of equipment and resources • Reasons for the growing importance of sharing engineering resources are: • The growing complexity of engineering tasks • More and more specialized and expensive equipment as well as software tools and simulators • The necessary use of expensive equipment and software tools/simulators in short time projects • The application of high tech equipment • The need of high qualified staff to control recent equipment • The demands of globalization and division of labor

4. Remote Engineering • Examples of Remote Engineering applications implemented at Makerere University • The iLabs project at the Faculty of Technology, (iLABS@MAK) executed in collaboration with MIT, OAUand UDSM with support from National Instruments • The MIT Open Course Ware • Other Remote Engineering applications • Video conferencing • CDROM Technologies • high-tech digital Library • collaborative development of software solutions

5. Current Trend in Higher Education • The traditional and strictly theoretical education does not engage or adequately train students to become job creators • The sharp increase in the number of students and the scarcity of training resources and materials • Educators attempt to present information in a clear and unambiguous manner under the circumstances • The curriculum doesn’t favour the learning environment common to the Natural Sciences hence not matching the learning preferences of the population • With the advancement in technology, Remote Engineering is the way to go

6. The National Remote Engineering Consortium • Rationale • Need for a Knowledge Transfer Partnership composed of academic institutions, government, policy makers, public – private sector and the industry • Need for Collaborative applied research • Collaborative development of Employer driven curricula • Positioning universities at the centre of the knowledge economy: and, hence, the employer engagement argument • Remote Engineering is gaining prominence in all aspects of academic, social and economic life.

7. Knowledge Transfer Partnerships

8. Consortium Goals • Encourage and support members to adopt Remote Engineering in academic instruction  and research, e-commerce, e-health and e-Governance. • Design a formal and efficient mechanism for sharing and exchanging Remote Engineering resources e.g. online laboratories, web service applications, mobile service applications etc • Stimulate research and support a scholarly community with an interest in Remote Engineering in Uganda. • Improve co-operation and collaboration between Institutions of Higher Learning, secondary schools, commercial institutions, media, Government etc

9. Values: Mission, Vision, Code of Ethics • The Consortium should be a non-profit entity • Governance of the Consortium should remain in the hands of educational Institutions • The consortium should provide a mechanism for the entire community to voice its needs and priorities. • Decision making should be consensual otherwise a simple majority overrules.

10. Membership • The Consortium should allow three types of members: • Educational Partners- Universities, other Institutions of Higher learning and Schools • Corporate Affiliates (for profit companies) • Government and non profit affiliates (for professional associations such as UIPE, foundations and Government agencies e.g. UNBS, NCHE, NCST and Ministries ) having activities in the field of Remote Engineering • All members shall contribute a membership fee to be determined by the type and size of the organization to ensuring its sustainability.

11. Consortium Activities • Setting up of resource centers such as modern equipment Laboratories that can be shared by members • Planning, promoting and organizing meetings • Providing educational material through publications • Technical support for developers and other Knowledge Transfer Partnerships such as cross-institutional collaboration involving students and staff, co-supervision of students and research teams, and internship opportunities for students/ staff • Acting as a liaison body with other international organizations with related interests

12. Governance • Highest authority in charge of policy making shall be the General assembly • General Assembly should consist of the representatives of the educational partners, corporate affiliates, non-corporate affiliates and Government • Steering committees accountable to the General Assembly in charge of Technology, Research and Development, and Finance.

13. Governance • Roles of the General Assembly: • Elect members of the steering committees; • Review, accept or reject recommendations of the steering committees; • Approve budgets and audit accounts; • Approve applications for membership; • Take disciplinary action to any member or associate that fails fulfill their obligation.

14. Expectations and Privileges • All members should contribute to the consortium in one of three ways: • Financial support, • Infrastructural support (hardware, software, technical) • Contribution to the set of sharable resources available to the members (includes curricula material). • All members should share their expertise with other members through workshops and informal contacts. • Members should have full access to resources, participation in consortium activities and access to funding opportunities. • Non members should have access to only standard documents, all open source software and any of the publicly available resources.

15. Case Study: Internet2 • Representatives from 34 American universities met in Chicago in October 1996 and created a non-profit consortium project called the Internet2 • Internet2 was conceived as an application-driven project designed to be a complementary network to support advanced scientific applications • Currently it receives financial support from more than 180 universities, over 80 companies and the U.S. government.

16. Case Study: Internet2 • Dedicated exclusively to research, the project goals of the project are to: • Create and sustain a leading edge network capability for the research community, • Direct network development efforts to enable and support advanced technology development, • Ensure the rapid transfer of new network services and applications to the broader Internet community, and • Accommodate anticipated explosive growth.

17. Conclusion • As the world of technology clearly moves towards operating devices remotely, student experience with remote control of equipment will become invaluable on the job • We have to work together, like never before, to make Education address the diversity of needs, expectations, and interests in their cultural contexts. • Remote Engineering can improve the quality of teaching and learning, sharing knowledge and information, in response to societal needs, lowering the cost of education and improving internal and external efficiencies of the education system