THE Government, semi-state companies and universities have joined with the World Bank in an unprecedented initiative to transmit education material by satellite from Ireland and the US to six African countries.
The start of the State's participation in the pilot phase of the African Virtual University (AVU) project was one of the last acts of the rainbow coalition's outgoing minister in charge of science and technology, Mr Pat Rabbitte.
It will link Irish universities and colleges with up to 18 universities in Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana and Zimbabwe. The Irish universities will deliver courses - in the first instance in statistics, maths and using the Internet to their African counterparts by means of "telematics" a combination of IT links and satellite communications.
The plan is that eventually a wide range of business, technology and nursing courses will be transmitted. In the pilot phase, material will also be transmitted from France and Belgium to universities in French-speaking countries of sub-Saharan Africa.
The Dublin Institute for Technology will begin broadcasting lectures via its "telematic classroom" to the African universities in September, after trial broadcasts during the summer.
The project's co-ordinator, Dr Ann Saunders, of Forbairt, said yesterday: "This has to be one of the most exciting educational technological projects ever seen here, combining the high-tech transmission of knowledge, Ireland's position at the cutting edge of the IT industry, and our proud record of working with developing countries."
She said the Irish involvement originated two years ago after a lecturer in Letterkenny RTC, Mr Ray Patten, had come across the AVU concept being developed by a number of US colleges and consultants while doing research in satellite communications.
Dr Saunders said the Irish contribution was particularly significant in that, unlike their US partners, the Irish institutions were developing specific material for use in the AVU project.
Forbairt saw it as "a flagship-project for launching an Irish educational services sector, which would market knowledge and education as an internationally traded service".
She said the project's pilot phase would cost relatively little - the outgoing government allocated it Pounds 200,000 in development aid - because so many Irish institutions were giving their services free or in kind. Among these are the universities and RTCs, the Higher Education Authority, the Irish Management Institute, Forbairt and Telecom Eireann.