The vice-chancellor, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Prof. Olufemi Peters, has commended NOUN's Africa Centre of Excellence on Technology Enhanced Learning (ACETEL) for its excellent performance thereby projecting the image of the university positively in the just concluded Digital Science and Technology Network (DSTN) symposium in Senegal.
Peters gave this commendation on Wednesday 15th December, 2021, when the five students who represented NOUN's ACETEL presented the reports of their trip and activities in Senegal to the VC at the university's headquarters in Jabi, Abuja.
While congratulating the team for a successful trip, the VC who could not conceal his excitement due to ACETEL's performance, said NOUN's ACETEL is representing the university very well. He urged them to do more in future engagements of that kind.
Earlier in her speech, the director of ACETEL, Prof. Grace Jokhtan, while introducing the team, told the VC that they were in his office to brief him on the outcome of their trip to the DSTN symposium in Senegal.
On his own part, the director, Learning Contents Management System (LCMS), Dr. Adewale Adesina, who led the team to Senegal, said "the DSTN brings together African Centres of Excellence (ACE) working in digital science and technology (informatics and mathematics) to address the challenges posed by the digital transformation of science, the economy and society as a whole."
Adesina further explained that five scientific priority areas had been identified which according to him include: Big Data and Trusted Artificial Intelligence, IoT systems and Software Defined Network in poorly connected areas, Cyber security, High-Performance Computing, and Data Science Applied to Health ,Agriculture, Environment, Education, and Smart Cities.
"The Network which aims at supporting collaborations between African Centres of Excellence (ACE) also provides and co-finances PhD scholarships, mobility grants, scientific events and expertise in the priority areas," Adesina said.
The team leader further added: "Five students from ACETEL represented the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) at the just concluded first edition of the DSTN symposium held at the University of Gaston Berger, Senegal.
"The team worked on a project titled _Secure Essay-based Assessment System (SEAS)_ . A system which, upon completion, will be able to relief the burden it takes the lecturers when marking an essay based examination script," Adesina added.
Besides, the director of LCMS also intimated the VC that the NOUN students participated in the hackaton adding that the goal of hackaton was to create functional software or hardware by the end of the event."
"After the hackathon competition, the students from ACETEL Nigeria came third out of the 10 teams that represented other ACE partners," Adesina said.
Apparently satisfied with the outcome of the Senegal trip, Adesina told the VC that "some students were writing their end of term examinations; yet they were able to participate in the workshop as well as demonstrating that NOUN has come of age and that we can indeed learn anywhere at any time."
It could be recalled that the DSTN symposium in Senegal, which was held from 6th-12th of December, 2021, was aimed at bringing together the participating African Centre of Excellence (ACEs), their partners, socio-economic actors and international collaborators, to share experiences as well as train potential entrepreneurs on how to launch their start-ups in Digital Science and Technology.
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