John W,

I agree with you to an extend. However, I feel that clustering of all these disciplines in one particular curriculum, either way or Cramming
one course with all that can possibly be taught in class, and meet what the employer might be seeking for may not be practical in the long
run. Infact this seems to be the case with the current curricula, where most of the disciplines within the current course outlines really never
get applied anywhere. This is wasted knowledge. Just like, much of the physics and the Chemistry you and me learnt in High school may
just have been a real total 'waste' of  time, effort, and money. It might only serve to create some walking encyclopedias with knowledge that
never gets applied. Let us develop Specialized Training Curriculas way before even the university entry..

Muthoni, if you would ask me, I would recommend that even before you overhaul the current University curriculum, a crucial section of
stakeholders that comprise the High School, and probably the upper primary School fraternity, need to be brought into the fold in order to
develop and adopt what I would call a "Bottoms-up" approach in arriving at curriculum that flows right through the entire Education system
as currently structured, with vision 2030 in mind.

Of course the other end of the production - The employers, who are consumers of the Finished products, are equally important, but also
will need to make "Realistic" demands on the graduands.. When you demand that you need graduates who have done computer Science,
Electronic Engineering etc, all compressed in one,  it tends to lock out deserving prospects for the job. It may be cost-saving to look at it
that way but in the long run it won't augur well for skills development that we have at our disposal.

Please cast the net far and wide, it's just as a multistakeholder issue, at hand, just as the Constitutional Review is..

Regards,
Harry

---

From: kictanet-bounces+harry=comtelsys.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+harry=comtelsys.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Walubengo J
Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 10:18 AM
To: harry@comtelsys.co.ke
Cc: skunk; waema@uonbi.ac.ke; moturi; sci-acad@uonbi.ac.ke; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: Re: [kictanet] The Premier B.Sc. Computer Science Programme in Kenya

  
 Muthoni M,

I think its good to see Academia going  back to the industry to ask for input in curricula development.   Previous University Dons would rather claim it was their sole prerogative  to say what needs to be taught and when and how it would be  taught.

Indeed just looking at the recent post from Eng. Kariuki  regarding "ICT Jobs at Huawei" it shows the gap between industry and  academia. Whereas most ICT University Curricula continues to be strictly  segmented along EITHER  "Computer Science/Info Technology" OR  "Electrical/Telco Engineering" most employers seem to be looking for BOTH  CompScience/IT and Engineering components from their  candidates.

The Challenge then becomes, should IT students be  taught some Telco-engineering concepts or Should Electrical and other  Engineers be taught IT concepts? I know I have not answered your question  regarding inputs for the Computers Science program, but it is just that  your question provokes more questions than  answers...

walu.
 

 

--- On Tue,  11/10/09, Muthoni Masinde <muthoni@uonbi.ac.ke> wrote:
 

From:  Muthoni Masinde <muthoni@uonbi.ac.ke>
Subject: Re: [kictanet]  The Premier B.Sc. Computer Science Programme in Kenya
To:  jwalu@yahoo.com
Cc: "moturi" <moturi@uonbi.ac.ke>, "KICTAnet  ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>,  "sci-acad@uonbi.ac.ke" <sci-acad@uonbi.ac.ke>,  waema@uonbi.ac.ke
Date: Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 2:39 PM

 Dear Nancy,
I agree with you; we actually review  our curriculum every 4 years; the
current one is 4 years old and that  is why we are reviewing it.  We have
always done it through the  approach you have described but this time round,
we would like to  incorporate stakeholders views.  Quality assurance issues
are  well taken care of.

The issue of specialisation from 2nd year  seems to be favoured by many and
we consider this.

Thank you  very much for the comments and indeed I will be glad to receive
more  ideas from ICSIT-JKUAT.

Best regards,
Muthoni


On  11/10/09 12:03 AM, "n_macharia@yahoo.co.uk </mc/compose?to=n_macharia@yahoo.co.uk> "  <n_macharia@yahoo.co.uk </mc/compose?to=n_macharia@yahoo.co.uk> >
wrote:

>  Muthoni,
>
> This is a brilliant idea. In my view you  benefit by eliciting very valuable
> and resourceful ideas for the  Curriculum from experienced and sharpened staff.
>
> An all  stakeholder involvement in either curriculum review or development  is
> an IUCEA and CHE requirement. Its the right process for both  academic quality
> assurance and towards offering demand  driven(ICT industry, Kenyas vision 2030)
> and custom  built  training.
>
> The revision is long overdue. In any case the  requirement is one cycle which
> is in the period of five  yrs.
>
> On CS, the direction focus should be  specialisation from 2nd Year of study
> after the foundation  units.
>
> We in academia, believe in sharing "cable", here  knowledge and ideas. Will
> share this with ICSIT colleagues in  JKUAT and come back to you.
>
> Nancy Macharia
>  Deputy Director
> ICSIT  JKUAT
> Sent from my  BlackBerry®
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:  Tuma Barua <tumabarua@gmail.com </mc/compose?to=tumabarua@gmail.com> >
>  Date: Mon, 9 Nov 2009 17:19:40
> To: <n_macharia@yahoo.co.uk </mc/compose?to=n_macharia@yahoo.co.uk> >
>  Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke </mc/compose?to=kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> >;
>  moturi<moturi@uonbi.ac.ke </mc/compose?to=moturi@uonbi.ac.ke> >; <waema@uonbi.ac.ke </mc/compose?to=waema@uonbi.ac.ke> >
>  Subject: Re: [kictanet] The Premier B.Sc. Computer Science Programme in  Kenya
>
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