Management

The Project took off the ground on 1July 2002 and has a project life span of three-years. The Project came into being in the form of partnership cooperation, between the Government of Japan and USP. Funding assistance towards the Project stands at FJD 8 million and this would provide essential equipment such as PCs and multimedia development tools in project focused areas.

The main focus of the Project is the planning and design for the future USPNet. With the successful implementation of the Project, more students at USP will receive improved education services through the enhanced IT capacity of the University.

The Project has three major areas of development through the:

• Enhancement in the areas of Computing Science;
• Enhancement of Long Distance and Flexible Learning;
• Developing research and training capacity using IT technology for socio-economic development.

The Project currently comprises of three long-term experts and the provision for short-term JICA experts that will work closely with USP Staff. Training of USP personnel on various aspects of the Project is essential to ensure smooth transfer of knowledge and successful post-completion through human resource capacity building.

The USP region is one that comprises of twelve island countries having far reached geographic clusters and varying degree of socio-economic development. An important aspect of the Project is the adoption of current communication and IT technology that will ensure that equal access to information and education facilities is adequately provided to the region.

Presently, this is the age where information technology is the grinding industry for developed economies. The Project is one which encompasses the anticipated development focus and perhaps raising the progressive level of quality education being accessible to people in the region. The Project itself advocates for better regional integration and maintaining an important network with the outside world.

This network is one that constitutes human relations and which fosters stronger ties between people in different geographic regions. Such is the vision of the Government of Japan, and the USP region is bound to gain from the anticipated comparative advantages of the Project that could open up new opportunities and perhaps better position the USP member countries with developed economies.

The USP is grateful to the partnership cooperation and the level of support provided by the Government of Japan under the Project. The Project was introduced at an opportune time when the University is undergoing restructuring and institutional reforms. Therefore, ICT could be used as a powerful tool to foster optimal resource allocation with the ultimate goal of creating an efficient and effective organization structure at USP. ICT is recognized as a relevant tool for economic development and as such, the learning experience for USP is one that will encourage a proactive approach towards Project ownership and sustainability through human capacity building.