 IT Staff Training
Cutting-edge Technical Support
The University of Jos has a unique Computer Centre dedicated
to provide training for graduates of every discipline of the institution. In this
vein, the university has taken every opportunity to equip the Centre with state of the art
equipment and first class training facilities including manpower.
Training started with the recruitment of a Director and a
small complement of computer programmers for the Centre followed by the concentration of
all university computer facilities at the Centre. The Computer Centre then mounted free
training sessions for groups of academics and administrators while encouraging access to
the facilities by all staff.
Then came, Professor Nenfort Gomwalk -- a computer enthusiast
of a Vice Chancellor -- who got an immersion into state-of-the-art information technology
at the commencement of his incumbency through his participation in an NUC sponsored visit
of American Universities. Professor Gomwalk went on this trip as a computer
enthusiast and returned to Jos a disciple. His dynamic and results-oriented
discipleship has had an immeasurable effect on the computerization efforts of the
University of Jos.
The university has continuously supported local and overseas
training for staff with due cognizance of the need and advantages for each type of
training.
Professor Horton of the University of Georgia visited and was
resident in the Centre for a period of two years, during which the Macintosh laboratory
was established and training in the use of Macintosh systems and peripherals pursued.
With NUC sponsorship, the Chairman NUNet and two engineers
from the Computer Centre participated in sensitizing and training sessions for chairmen
and engineers, respectively, at the International Centre For Theoretical Physics (ICTP),
Trieste in Italy
The University of Jos independently supported the Director of
the Centre and the NUNet Administrator for training at the Iowa State University in Ames,
Iowa ( United States) through a program, "Networking For Use in Mathematics and
Physics", (NUMAPS). Plans are now in an advanced stage to bring NUMAPS to Jos
in the year 2000, so that a wider selection of NUNet staff in the Nigerian university
system can enjoy the benefits of this fine program.
Locally two staff have since enrolled in postgraduate studies
at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University in Bauchi to enrich and improve their
competence, at the expense of the University of Jos. Others are in the pipeline for
further training there.
This current year, 1998/99 has seen a revolution in
computerization at the University of Jos and our policy has changed from "training"
to "overtraining." Given the growth of IT in Nigeria, a university cannot
expect to compete with the private sector to retain trained IT professionals. Thus
we are focusing on training a much larger group of technicians and emphasising "cross
training" so that we have a continuous supply of experts to maintain our systems.
The past year has been influenced by the presence of Mr.
Cliff Missen, a Systems Analyst and Visiting Fulbright Fellow from the University of Iowa,
who has added new dimensions to our training programs and network services. He has
launched a successful internship program which has attracted 27 interns to the Centre and
he has led training for computer services staff throughout the year.
Mr. Missen has provided Centre staff with significant
database, Windows NT, and Internet training. He has worked with senior staff on
developing team management skills. He also ran a course on Internetworks in
International Development for staff and faculty.
In July of this year the Centre will offer a
week-long training in Windows NT Server management, Web page creation, and networking.
IT professionals from all of Nigeria -- university and private sector -- are
expected to attend.
The Centre continues to investigate ways to attract
IT professionals and trainers to the University of Jos to continue this fine tradition. |