The Internet in Tertiary Education in Africa: Recent Trends

Poor Internet connectivity is one of the pertinent issues in the digital divide between developing and industrialized countries, hampering the transition to the global information society. Recent emergence of national and regional research and education data communication networks in parts of the developing world has shown large benefits arising from collaboration amongst tertiary education institutes. Africa is currently the most under-served continent in terms of the information and communication technologies. Hence the collaboration amongst tertiary education institutes in Africa is imperative to make them key players in the enhancement of information and communication technologies for society. An attempt is made in this article to delve the recent trends that emerged from the higher educational institutes in Africa. The paper also highlights the key role of tertiary education and Internet that can induce social and economic developments.