A University Without Walls

Can you imagine a university without walls, classrooms and even registered students? In fact, it will not even have its own faculty but draw from the resources of many institutions.

Welcome to the Virtual University for the Semi-Arid Tropics (VUSAT), jointly initiated by ICRISAT and the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Chennai.

Unlike a conventional university, VUSAT will not award degrees or diplomas but provide critical information, in real time, to farmers working in the rainfed areas of the semi-arid tropics. While the broad aim is to provide climate literacy, the immediate concern is to enable resource-poor farmers to tackle the ravaging effects of this year’s drought.

“The Virtual University will take the right information to the right people at the right time using new Internet and conventional communication tools,” said William Dar, Director General, ICRISAT. “It will help India’s Central and State Governments to tackle drought, benefiting thousands of subsistence farmers.”

The Virtual University concept envisages a consortium of institutions using ICT applications to work together to deliver content and programs to learners and farmers. Unlike a conventional university associated with a single institution, the VUSAT will be a seamless organization linking the expertise of many institutions. It aims to develop climate literacy and drought preparedness among rural communities, development workers, service providers and policy makers. It will also communicate information on climatic trends like monsoon behavior and methods of drought management for community mobilization and disaster preparation. VUSAT will explore ways to innovatively interface Internet and satellite technologies with conventional print, radio and television media.

“This is a novel initiative,” said M.S. Swaminathan, eminent scientist and Chairman, MSSRF. “We need to use modern science through VUSAT to help the poorest of the poor.”

ICRISAT’s pilot project in Adakkal village, Andhra Pradesh, has empowered farmers to cope with drought through distance learning. It shared information and knowledge on crop-livestock management with farmers under scenarios of rainfall and groundwater inadequacy. The project also developed off-farm knowledge and skills for viable livelihood opportunities.

Partnerships are at the core of the VUSAT model, including with important national bodies such as the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Commonwealth of Learning, national and state Open Universities, IWMI and others. The lessons in India will be used to implement this Virtual University initiative in sub-Saharan Africa.

ICRISAT aims to launch VUSAT on World Environment Day, June 5, 2003.