Higher Education and the Adoption of Cloud Computing Technology in Africa

Abstract

With the emergent demand for information technology (IT) services, African Universities should consider adopting cloud computing to meet with this growing demand on different IT services, Cloud computing could provide good business models for African universities since these universities often do not have enough resources and knowledge to manage the necessary information technology (IT) support for educational, research and developmental activities that must be delivered in a higher education environment, while cloud computing aims to eliminate these complexities from the user. This paper describes the importance and the challenges facing higher education in Africa, introduction to cloud computing technologies, services and deployment models, adoption of cloud computing in higher education as a possible solution despite the challenges facing higher education in Africa.