Dear Muthoni, Chris, Tim,
Let me join those hailing this initiative. As an alumnus of ICS (albeit in the days when Dr Okello was still a dashing young man!) I owe a duty to give some input to your request and will certainly critically look at the syllabus you posted and revert to you off-list.
In the interim I can only point out one general observation for this list: ICT graduates appear to be conspicuous by their absence from the ICT Public Policy space. Maybe you need a unit on ICT Public Policy formulation and advocacy which sensitises graduates on things like how to identify and follow through with ICT Public Policy issues. Internationally I have noticed that ICT Public Policy engagement is dominated by lawyers and people with legal background. In Kenya my guess is that it is dominated by civil society colleagues who are not necessarily ICT people. Most of the ICT people (some call them "techies") I come across are avers to brush with Public Policy and yet policy inevitably affects the way they discharge their contribution to society.
BTW how come there appears to be no data base of ICS alumni contacts? I think you can build one and also think of an annual alumni meeting, perhaps in conjunction with the annual open day.
Kind Regards,
Waudo
On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:04 +0300, "Muthoni Masinde" <muthoni@uonbi.ac.ke> wrote:
Sam,
This is definitely great input to our curriculum review process. I totally agree with you; we for example have cases of very bright students with excellent system (software) development skills but who cannot market/manage their ideas! My colleagues are reading this and we intend to implement your suggestions.
Thank you very much,
Muthoni
On 11/12/09 8:07 AM, "Sam Aguyo" <saguyo@yahoo.com> wrote:
Dear All,
It is nice having this discussion, some of my thoughts are below.
· The kind of Computer Science graduate the market needs; in terms of knowledge and skills
You realize that this field really changes first i.e. Languages maturing (getting simpler) by the day therefore a lot of hard coding will diminish. This leaves the students more with alignment of technology to business requirements. Considering this, it is of utmost importance for our institutions like UON to start modeling these students to be capable of interpreting the business requirements and what technology can provide.
In my view, the current state promotes concentration on technology than providing business solutions (industry knowledge). The end result is having graduates who are detached from mainstream management and are therefore relegated to back office solution centres. We would want to see the graduates rise to become CEOs of companies or illustrious industry entrepreneurs. This can happen when our institutions start inculcating in the minds, strong business principles. If you asked me i would include management and entrepreneurship in the the curriculum.
· The kind of courses you would recommend to be critical for this graduate
Universities are knowledge centres so any temptation to be like a reed that dances with the wind should be avoided. We may not have a curriculum that addresses all the industry requirements lest we start teaching <experience!>. The curriculum should be premised on the industry fundamentals, we had narrow band now it is broadband. We had copper technology now we have fibre and it is bound to change, there is a danger in taking a reductionist approach.
Sam Aguyo
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The University of Nairobi is committed to providing quality services to all its clients. The University will monitor and review its quality performance from time to time through an effective implementation of the Quality Management System based on ISO 9001:2008 standard.
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