The project involved the establishment of an entirely new platform of learning, with investments in hardware and software and including creation of partnerships with institutions that were to develop their course content into online distance learning format. This constituted a major step toward a new concept of learning. There is a risk that the system will eventually collapse unless it is put on a sound business and strategic footing in the near future. In addition to the risk of dilapidation of equipment (which for now is still relevant and state-of-the- art), staff capacity that was sourced, developed, and placed to keep National Online Distance Education Service (NODES) and network access centers (NACs) operational risks being eroded as the highly skilled people begin to find alternative work in the market. One major lesson is that longer-term support could have been built into project design to enable more time for preparing a sustainability plan with concrete milestones, including adequate transition arrangements followed by approval of an institutional framework for the successor organization.
Distance Education Modernization Project