KNUST students to benefit from Broadband Wireless Internet

Picture shows Prof. K. K. Adarkwa (2nd left), Vice Chancellor of KNUST trying to access the internet on a laptop at the launch of the wireless service.
Story: Enoch Darfah Frimpong, Kumasi
A Broadband wireless Internet and voice telephony facility has been inaugurated on the campus of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
Known as the KNUST E-Campus Network, the facility has the potential of transforming the mode of teaching and learning on campus, as it would provide members of the university community with in-room and on-campus wireless Internet and voice telephony.
The provision of the service is a joint venture between Universal Telephone Exchange Limited and Engineering Systems and Services Limited, in collaboration with the KNUST.
The project is the first phase of a comprehensive Information Communication Technology (ICT), which is aimed at integrating all educational institutions into the global ICT network with KNUST as the hub.
According to the Vice-Chancellor of the KNUST, Professor Kwasi Kwafo Adarkwa, the services would be provided at an affordable rate to enable all subscribers benefit from the innovation.
He said with the innovation, students and lecturers could have access to the Internet service from any location on campus for research and recreational purposes at their convenience.
Aside that, he said students would be able to manage their time more efficiently with affordable telephone service.
The vice-chancellor said the cumulative effect of the benefits could result in improved academic performance of students enrolled at the university.
It was also expected that the current range of services provided under the KNUST E-Campus project would be complemented with distance learning, which would leap KNUST into the frontiers of educational excellence, the vice-chancellor said.
He said the network would eventually be interlinked with similar networks in Ghana and beyond to enable members of the university community share resources with other educational institutions to create a serene environment for education and research.
The Chief Executive of Engineering Systems and Services Limited, Mr Ben Adu, in an address, said university teaching and learning was becoming increasingly challenging in the face of limited resources and increasing demand for enrolment.
Mr Adu said physical facilities and lecturers were in short supply, and that access to quality learning and educational resources were limited.
He said the gap between quality of education in the developed economies and the one in the developing countries would further widen if steps were not taken to address the problem.
Mr Adu said distance education and e-learning could help to ameliorate the situation, but without equal access to quality communications infrastructure, distance education would not be able to deliver its promise.