In extreme cases, some universities that have lost key staff cannot offer courses required for a degree. The African Virtual University can fill in those gaps. Other experts, however, keep their enthusiasm in check. They point to the high costs not only of buying the right technology, but also of maintaining it with trained personnel. Confronted by an often bewildering and intoxicating range of options, Africa's university leaders say they must pick and choose with a clear sense of vision.
Planning is key, they agree.
She and other campus officials have called on the Association of African Universities to draft guidelines that institutions can use in developing strategic information-technology plans. In addition to increasing their technological capacity, African academics are being urged to develop more local content for the Internet. According to Mr. Jensen, the South African researcher, only 0.022 per cent of all sites on the World-Wide Web last year were based in Africa. If we are talking about making higher education relevant to our own context, we need to develop independent African content. After years of deteriorating conditions at universities across the continent, educators say, information technology is, above all, providing a new sense of hope, putting revitalization within the reach of their institutions.