Installing Internet Service on a Campus – Country Comparison between Fairfield, University, Usa and Universite Alioune Diop Bambey, Senegal

Fairfield University and the Université Alioune Diop de Bambey (UADB) were selected by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/ Higher Education for Development (HED), for a project in Senegal (Appendix B), to disseminate health information to rural populations using technology through Service Learning. The project would run from October 2010 through September 2013. The main campus for UADB is in Bambey, a village 125 kilometers from the capital Dakar, and two rural campuses in Diourbel, and Ngoundiane, about 35 kilometers north and south of Bambey respectively. The remote campuses are off the only paved road in the area, and lack modern amenities. Instructors teach at multiple campuses, and they are driven in university vehicles over unpaved trails for over 40 minutes. They are then engaged in instruction for at least two hours, after which they return to Bambey. Presently, only the Bambey campus has access to the Internet via an unstable ADSL line, whereas the other campuses have poor CDMA technology (the base station is about 30km from the campus) Internet connection. The students at the Ngoundiane campus learn Math, Physics, Chemistry, Decisional Informatics, Web design, and other computer topics despite the lack of access to the Internet. As part of HED’s strategy to spread education to the rural population, UADB technical staff and Fairfield University counterparts engaged in the design of a campus-wide WiFi project, and using available WiMax technology to distribute the Internet signal to the other campuses.