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OVERVIEW OF ICTD EDUCATION IN ASIA

The impulse for this chapter came from an observation of the lack of adequately trained ICTD manpower in Asia because of the dearth of quality formal and non-conventional training plans in this country. There may be a surfeit of information technology (IT) programs, a goodly number of communication science programs and quite a few development studies programs in Asian educational and training foundations. Nevertheless, programs that combine IT, communication skill and development studies that adequately capture the synergies inherent in their convergence are few and far between.

Information Technology Programmes. Asia’s prominence in IT services outsourcing has spawned a broad array of programs proposed by both public and individual institutions to supply industry manpower requirements. These programs include baccalaureate and graduate offerings on information science, information engineering, information systems, computer skill, information processing system technology and software technology. They encompass the full spectrum of hardware, software, networking and systems management concerns of IT.

Communication Programmes. Likewise, several Asian academic institutions have strong programs on the communication arts and sciences thanks to the region’s robust media, entertainment and advertising environment. A long list of communication schools from South to Southeast Asia offer baccalaureate, masters and doctorate programs in communication skill and communication arts (Asia Communication Handbook 2008).

Development Studies. Additionally, networks of South and Southeast Asian state colleges and universities offer academic programs in rural sociology, community growth and development fields. Generally, South Asian curricula are patterned after the development studies and economics programmes of UK (Sussex and Manchester). These include the University of Delhi, the University of Colombo, the University of Punjab and the University of Dhaka. Southeast Asian curricula are modelled after the rural sociology, community growth and agricultural economics offerings of American land grant universities. Examples of the latter are: the University of the Philippines; Kasetsart University in Bangkok; Universitas Pertanian Bogor; Gadjamada University in Yogjakarta; and Universiti Putra Malaysia.

ICTD Courses. There may be a few universities that provide individual courses titled information and communication technology for growth. The Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI), of the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore offers a grad course on ICTD whilst UPOU, the open campus of the University of the Philippines system, offers two undergraduate courses titled Information and Communication for Development (ICT4D) and Knowledge Management for Development (KM4D). The University of the Philippines Los Baños offers graduate and undergraduate course on telecommunications for development. However, a full-fledged ICTD program at the graduate or undergraduate levels that integrates information technology, communication skill and development subject areas is yet to be made by any one of these universities.