The role and application of information literacy in realizing information and communication technology(ICT) in higher education

The present study is an attempt to examine the role of information literacy as a prerequisite for the effective application of ICT. Qualitative content analysis was used as the methodology to answer the main question of the study. The findings and results show that there is a need to have fundamental changes in missions and functions of Universities and institutes of higher education. Since one of the basic missions of Universities is to produce knowledge and lay the groundwork for knowledge environments, awareness of and access to the latest scientific findings in areas of science and technology is necessary. ICT has paved the way of this process. But what is essential is to enable the users of higher education easier access to ICT based environment. This way the audience of higher education can use the information in such environments in an effective, efficient, and creative way. This will be impossible unless we consider the role and status of information literacy as a necessity and basic issue for the application of ICT in higher education.