Creating a campus network culture in a newly developing economy

Newly developing countries are experiencing rapid changes in their economies, especially with the advent of computing and communication technology. Universities are installing computer networks and teaching people how to use these new facilities. However, although network development represents a significant capital investment, the usage of networks in these countries is still disappointingly low. We believe the reason is that a very important issue is too often ignored ‐ development of a network culture, that is, an environment in which a campus network is viewed as essential to the academic and research mission of the entire university, not just a tool for the scientist or engineer. In this paper, we briefly examine network development at the University of Mauritius and discuss constraints on network utilization in an expanding university. We also examine the changing nature of the Computer Center within the university and, finally, propose recommendations to develop a network culture on campus so that computer networks are fully and effectively used. We hope that other developing economies can learn and profit from these recommendations.