Establishing a Computer Science Program with Staff Shortages in a Developing Country through an Electrical Engineering Department

Development experts, in the wake of the IT revolution, generally see Computer Science as a pathway to advanced economic status bypassing industrialization. Many countries have therefore made IT development a high priority and universities have been charged with and pressured into rapidly developing suitable academic programs in Computer Science. In the Third World where human resources in high-tech fields like Computer Science are scarce, a successful Computer Science program can be developed through an Electrical Engineering Department. The resulting failures and challenges in developing such a program in a developing country context are described. Such successful programs can be sustainable, particularly if they are located physically close to the metropolis.