Problems faced by a computer science department in a developing country

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to outline the more important difficulties which confront the organiser of a Computer Science course in a developing University, and to suggest some partial solutions. It is written for a western (developed) Journal because some of the difficulties here presented could be minimised by a sympathetic response on the part of developed countries to requests for help from elsewhere. Hence the paper is written in the hope of furthering understanding and cooperation. The material which follows is based on a year's secondment in Nigeria running the Department of Computer Science at the University of Ife, and a continuing interest as external examiner to the University of Ibadan. Nigeria is a comparatively rich and powerful developing nation-perhaps the leader in computer activity amongst such coun-tries, with an estimated total requirement for about 500 computer science graduates by 1980. It has an impressive record in computer education to date. An attempt has been made to distill out the essentials of the Nigerian experience so as to produce as dis-cussion capable of wider interpretation. It is hardly necessary to say that any criticisms are made in a global context and are not intended to refer to particular institutions.