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  • University of the South Pacific

    I saw this BBC news article about distance learning at the University of the South Pacific, where our own kumukulanui (Peter Forster) teaches. Eh Peter, any comments on the subject? How many of USP's classes are taught this way?

  • #2
    Re: University of the South Pacific

    Whoops - I missed this one completely until today! I must have been asleep.

    I just left my job at USP and returned to Europe a couple of weeks ago. I used to run courses via the network (USPNet) described in the BBC article. For some years it was a purely audio link to regional centres in each country. It works reasonably well for students who are able to get to the centres, but that is impossible for outer island students. However, it was possible to have interactive meetings with the students. Now they have added video to the audio connection, but that can only be interactive with one country. Students at the other centres can only watch. It also has lots of technical problems, which are frustrating for everyone.

    Because of the agreement with the Japanese government, who funded USPNet, it cannot be connected to public networks (such as the internet). So USP now wants to go over to delivering courses via the Internet. A couple of law courses, based at Emalus Campus in Vanuatu, are already being delivered over the internet using the Plone content management system. However, it has lots of problems. USP has currently got very little bandwidth, connections are always breaking down, electricity cuts are also commonplace. Finally, the ICT department has very few skilled technical staff so breakdowns can last a LONG time. Only students in the pacific, who are used to that kind of situation, are willing to tolerate it.

    I would guess that something like 60 to 70% of courses are available via USPNet.

    The BBC article is very upbeat, but it sounds like the 'official' approved version. The day to day reality is VERY different and has most expat staff tearing their hair out in frustration.

    Best wishes from a nice fast internet connection, in a country where things just work (Netherlands) and the people are friendly...

    Peter Forster
    Last edited by kumukulanui; September 4, 2004, 10:54 AM.

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    • #3
      Re: University of the South Pacific

      It must be frustrating for USP to not have the necessary bandwidth for broadband communications. Fiji is one of the places the Southern Cross fiber cable connects through. Hawai`i being another. In Hawai`i, the Southern Cross fiber was probably the most critical piece of infrastructure to get Hawai`i on the broadband backbone. It's too bad the Fiji government hasn't opened up telecommunications service to competition and made it more accessible to the broader population. I guess things haven't changed much since I last visited there.
      Check out Bytemarks the blog and Bytemarks the Yahoogroup

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      • #4
        Re: University of the South Pacific

        Originally posted by Quark
        It must be frustrating for USP to not have the necessary bandwidth for broadband communications. Fiji is one of the places the Southern Cross fiber cable connects through. Hawai`i being another. In Hawai`i, the Southern Cross fiber was probably the most critical piece of infrastructure to get Hawai`i on the broadband backbone. It's too bad the Fiji government hasn't opened up telecommunications service to competition and made it more accessible to the broader population. I guess things haven't changed much since I last visited there.
        In theory, USP is going to get access to the Australian Universities network, which would increase bandwidth from the current 1Mbs to something like 155Mbs. First of all, if I was still there I would not be holding my breath expecting it to happen soon. Second of all, it will only be available to USP. The rest of the population has to put up with a slow, expensive and intermittent dial-up service from the state-supported monopoly (I assume that you can read between the lines here). The Fiji government obviously does quite well out of Connect because they forced an American company that was providing low cost phone services, out of the country.

        Peter Forster

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