Technology planning for
Catholic University of Mozambique
Introduction. Mozambique is a cross roads between southern Africa and eastern Africa with a 1,500 mile coast line on the Indian Ocean. It is one of the poorest countries in the world. The per capita gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated at USD $ 220. The rate of illiteracy is estimated at more than 40%. Out of 25,000 public school teachers, only about 3% have completed a higher education (university bachelors or honors degree).
The health status of the population of 17 million, especially among vulnerable groups, is poor. Average life expectancy is 44 years. In rural areas, the health infrastructure was destroyed in a long period of civil war. There are only six hundred medical doctors in Mozambique. Half of these work in the capital city of Maputo serving a population of one million. The other sixteen million people of Mozambique are served by the remaining three hundred medical doctors who work in rural hospitals and clinics scattered around the country. Central and northern regions are the most disadvantaged in the country, showing the worst poverty indicators.
The Catholic University of Mozambique (in Portuguese - Universidade Católica de Moçambique, or UCM) is a private university serving the central and northern regions. UCM was established at the time of Peace Accords in 1992. That it was established as a private educational institution, not under government control, was a huge concession from a government located far to the south in the capital city of Maputo. Currently there are six campuses in four cities:
UCM Faculty of Medicine at Palmeiras - Beira.
UCM GIS Laboratory
(Geographic Information Systems) at Palmeiras - Beira.
UCM Faculty of Agriculture at Cuamba.
UCM Faculty of Economics and Management at Ponta Gea - Beira.
UCM Faculty of Education at Nampula.
UCM Faculty of Law at Nampula.
UCM Faculty of Tourism Management and Information Technology
at Pemba.
 |
Technology Planning. Walker Consulting has been associated with the Catholic University of Mozambique since January 2001. We began by helping design the first version of the UCM web site (www.ucm.ac.mz). Also see our activities supported by the US Global Technology Corps. Current projects include technology planning and proposal preparation for information technology, distance education, electronic library, rural health clinics, and Internet infrastructure.
Documents prepared for UCM.
- Observations & Suggestions for UCM - December 2003 (ObsSuggBeira.doc)
- Observations & Suggestions for UCM Program in Information Technology - November 2003 (ObsSuggPemba.doc)
- Revitalize the UCM Web Site - November 2003 (RevitalizeUCMweb.doc)
- Establish a UCM Research and Development Foundation -November 2003 (Foundation.doc)
- Proposed UCM Faculty of Construction Technology - November 2003 (PropUCM-CT.doc)
- UCM Master Plan (draft) - November 2003 (MasterPlanV1.doc)
- UCM Information Technology (talking points) - November 2003 (ITtalkpnts.doc)
- Current and future projects for UCM Faculty of Medicine - August 2002 (UCM-Projects3.doc)
- Computer support needed for UCM administration - March 2002 (UCMadmin.doc)
- Planning for a new program in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at the Catholic University of Ghana - March 2002 (CUGict.doc)
- IEEE 802.11b wireless computer connection between UCM Medicine and Economics - March 2002 (MedEcon.doc)
- Setting up a tiny LAN - September 2001 (TinyLAN.doc)
- Creating a web page for use as background with Active Desktop - September 2001 (WebBackground.doc)
- Predicting areas of need for computer technology at UCM during the next five years (2001-2005) Technical Paper - March 2001 (UCMtechpredictv2R.pdf or UCMtechpredictv2R.doc)