The rapid growth of universities in the Least Developing Countries (LDCs) is aimed at enhancing
access to tertiary education, which has resulted in a sharp increase in the enrolment rate. However,
the quantitative increase has been marred with a correspondingly continuous decline in the quality
of education. This is attributed to a wide range of limiting factors mainly classified as institutional
problems. Some of these problems include a shortage of resources, limited skills and incompetent
human capital, lack of ICT infrastructure, and the ineffective use of existing ICT resources. These
problems and others have adversely affected how national education and research network can
improve research output and quality of education.
In this study, a survey, in the form of an exploratory quantitative research design is used. A
descriptive non-experimental quantitative approach was also chosen, and a questionnaire was
administered to approximately one hundred and seventy-two (172) participants drawn from
twenty-nine (29) Ethiopian Public Universities. The results of the analysis show that the study
variables namely NREN service for education, EthERNet, electronic device and research output
have a significant and positive impact on the Quality of Education (QE) to differing degrees. Also,
the study variables such as NREN service for research, high-performance computing, and remote
computing facilities indicated that they had a significant and positive impact on Research Output
(RO) to differing degrees.
The study explored the impact of EthERNet in improving the quality of education and research
output by examining the existing network infrastructure and NREN services. The study employed
the use of the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to assess the existing network infrastructure and
NREN services to determine that a reliable network can improve the quality of education and
research output. Besides, Structural Equation Model (SEM) was used to identify the positive and
negative factors that impact on the roles, relationships, and formation of quality of education and
research output. Furthermore, a three-step design science approach was applied to propose and
justify the theoretical framework, which is used as a base to develop a service portfolio and
roadmap conceived to design the required NREN service for EthERNet.
This research contributed to the body of knowledge by finding the missing link between the quality
of education and research outputs. From a theoretical perspective, the research contributed a
theoretical framework by developing the construct and their measures that can be used in assessing
the adoption and usage of technology. Furthermore, the study contributes to the literature by
demonstrating an analytical process which could be used as a guide for future NREN service
requirement to improve the quality of education and research output with the existing findings
being used as a reference point. / School of Computing / Ph. D. (Computer Science)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/26699 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Zelalem Assefa Azene |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1 online resources (xxiii, 438 leaves) : color illustrations, color maps, color graphs, application/pdf |
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