Helping to bring African universities online

Posted by Ego Obi, Program Manager – Google Apps Supporting Programs, Sub-Saharan Africa

Today, over 30 universities across Africa are partnering with Google to bring students, faculty and staff online to help them work better together. Through initiatives like the Google Apps Supporting Programs (GASP) and attendance at events like the 18th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers, Google is working with Sub-Saharan and South African universities to improve Internet access, strengthen campus infrastructure, and adopt Google Apps for Education through a combination of grants, technical consulting and training.

The GASP program is partnering with African universities in a variety of ways, including offering 65,000 University of Pretoria students (South Africa) a university Gmail account for life through Google Apps for Education. Makerere University Business School (MUBS) in Uganda also integrated Google Apps for Education into their core processes such as the payroll system, and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) in Kenya, the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, and the University of Ghana adopted Google Apps for Education to improve cross-campus collaboration. And Inoorero University in Kenya extended their campus network infrastructure through grants and technical consulting offered through the GASP program.

At Google, we’re firm believers that we can work better together on the web. We’re excited to continue to partner with universities around the world to build out their infrastructure and get their students, faculty and staff online. Learn more about Google Apps Supporting Programs.