Jordan
Times
Thursday, November 4, 1999
University of Jordan expand computer facilities, aim to improve
students IT skillsThursday, November 4, 1999
By Oula Al Farawati
AMMAN — The University of Jordan has opened up computer labs to enable its 25,000 students enter the 21st century equipped with information technology skills, officials said on Tuesday.
The project, introduced at the start of the academic year, includes 18 labs, each containing between 20-30 personal computers (PCs), they added.
By the year 2003, the university will raise the number of PCs to 4,000 from the current 500 — connecting five students to each computer instead of the current ratio of 1 to 20.
“The project is an initiative by UJ President Walid Maani to prepare the university and the students to enter the new millennium,” Riyadh Jabri, head of the university's Computer Centre, told the Jordan Times.
“It is the first of its kind in the Middle East,” he added.
By March 2000, 500 more PCs will be added under the gradual plan.
“This project aims to present distinguished computer services to the students... We have connected the new PCs (MS Windows software) to the Internet,” Jabri explained.
“Every student will have his own e-mail address and will be able to benefit from the Internet service as long as she or he is a student at the university.”
The university imposed a JD20 fee on each student at the start of this year to raise funds to equip the project.
The surprise decision prompted the university's Islamist-dominated student council to resign in protest against the hike.
The project has generated mixed reactions, with most professors welcoming it as a long-overdue one and many students criticising the quality of service and access.
“This is a positive step,” said Ahmad Majdoubeh, director of the Language Centre at the university. “Students should be computer literate.”
“But our problem is that most of our students are only vaguely familiar with the computer,” Majdoubeh said.
Despite its limited funds, the university is offering a great service to its students, he said.
“The service is worth it and is fair that students pay JD20 per semester because the benefits are great,” he added.
Some professors also said that the majority of students whose English proficiency was well below standard were also finding problems dealing with the Internet, compared to the PCs which are Arabic-enabled.
“They ask us to press the command Help if we have any problems, but how can we cope when it is only in English,” said one frustrated student.
Senior students Hanan Abdul Majeed, Hala Ibrahim and Nura Dodin, all majoring in Education, spoke of the problems they encountered when using the PCs.
Computer services will no longer be the monopoly of private schools as of January when Jordan's public school students will have access to information technology under a gradual plan.
“We don't know how to use the computer and nobody would provide us with help,” said Ibrahim.
“We cannot print out anything and the supervisor is often stressed out,” she added.
“I spent 10 minutes just opening YAHOO, but I am only permitted to use the computer for one hour,” said Eman Tawfiq, majoring in English language.
Senior student Lana Hyari complained that she could not use the computer as often because “the labs are usually too crowded.”
Students have to book a computer in advance.
Senior electrical engineering student Mohammad Kiwan said the labs are offering him a golden opportunity to conduct his graduation project.
“I am benefiting from these computers in doing my graduation project, in conducting research and in using the Internet to get information,” he told the Jordan Times.
“But it is also difficult for many students to open their e-mail accounts due to overload on the web servers.”
Many students also offered suggestions to improve the situation.
Kiwan asked the university to launch a free introduction to computer use courses and to launch the idea of on-line registration to boost the use of computers.
Jabri said he was aware of all such complaints, which would be taken into consideration.
“This is the soft-opening phase and all these problems, many related to operations during peak time, will be accommodated,” he said.
Jabri said a private company, the National Information Centre, had won a tender to upgrade connection velocity from 256 bps (bytes per second) to 512 bps, to be completed in a month.
“Connection to the Internet is costing the university JD100,000 a year while 1,500 users use the Internet at the same time... I do not know any company that can provide this kind of service to such a big number of users,” he said.
Jabri said the centre is planning to hold additional computer courses for students to boost their skills. Supervisors were hired to train 25 staff members who will eventually train more instructors to help cope with rising demand.
Thirty university students will help train other students as part of a recently-introduced compulsory community service launched by the university as part of graduation requirements.
Jabri said students can also print out up to 100 pages per semester.
The university will provide self on-line registration service for students as of next semester and will also enable them to view their grades on computer.
