Academia calls for partnership with telcos
The Dean of the School of Graduate Studies of the University of Professional Studies (UPSA), Dr John Kwaku Mensah Mawutor, has called for partnership between institutions of higher learning and telecommunications service operators to provide e-learning materials on the various campuses to enhance speed acquisition of knowledge.
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This is to extend the provision of teaching and learning beyond the classroom and lecture halls in the country.
He explained that it had become necessary for the universities to deploy most of its instructions through virtual learning but to do that successfully required collaboration with the telecommunication service providers.
“The youth today are only interested in learning online and for that matter if you want to impact or influence the way they learn, institutions of higher learning have to look at ways of collaborating with the telecommunication service providers to complement their operations,” Dr Mawutor said this to the GRAPHIC BUSINESS on the sidelines of the launch of the Busy JUMP portal on Tuesday, May 30 in Accra.
He observed that in today’s competitive world, if academia did not develop the means to attract telecommunication service providers through collaboration, they would eventually take over the business of education.
“We need to be mindful of the fact that we live in a competitive world and if we do not take strategic steps to collaborate with these telecommunication service providers, they will take our business from us,” he said.
Dr Mawutor added that the universities had been in the business of education for a longer period and, therefore, collaboration would help channel the right information to the person who wanted to learn.
Introduction of JUMP
Busy, a fourth generation (4G) Internet service provider, unveiled the second phase of its electronic learning and social portal, JUMP, aimed at extending learning beyond classrooms.
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Dubbed ‘JUMP Academy,’ the initiative will be an addition to the already existing online educational portal which is being implemented in partnership with selected public and private universities.
JUMP Academy comes with an inclusion of audio-video materials covering various academic and professional courses put together by experienced professionals and lecturers tailored to suit the local curriculum.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Busy, Mr Praveen Sadalage, said the initiative sought to provide students and other young professionals with the requisite course and practical case studies through high quality recorded videos and lecture notes from experienced lecturers from various universities in the country.
He indicated that in pursuance of Busy’s vision to become the Next Generation Operator, “we are determined to accompany and empower the Ghanaian youth on their journey to acquire knowledge and contribute to their education using information and communication technology.”
“JUMP Academy is easy and free to access and has no restrictions on the profiles of those who can access it. We ensure a constant updating and enrichment of the contents to allow the youth get the best out of the platform,” he added.
Mr Sadalage observed that his outfit was excited to demonstrate Busy’s commitment to bridge the digital divide in education through the introduction of the new online portal.