Project assistance completion report : the AID rural satellite project (936-5811)

The project was implemented by the Academy for Educational Development. Results were less than had been planned. The A.I.D. leadership that had originally supported the project changed, planned sites in Senegal and the Philippines were dropped (due in part to political influences), and funding was eventually reduced by two-thirds. Nevertheless, satellite networks were successfully established in Indonesia, the West Indies, and Peru. The satellite system in Indonesia included 15 sites: 12 universities in the Eastern archipelago, 2 sites in Jakarta, and the Bogor Agricultural Institute. The system permitted student and faculty groups to talk to each other in a conference call over a 900,000 sq. mile area. Class discussions held during audio courses were longer (32 minutes on average) than the typical 4-minute class discussions held in face-to-face, traditional classrooms. However, even though the system supported high-quality education on numerous subjects at less than half the cost of traditional instruction, it received only lukewarm support within the university system and the Ministry of Education. This has been attributed to the unwillingness of the Eastern Island universities to collaborate. At the University of the West Indies, installation of a video satellite network on three main campuses and three small islands increased access to both university courses and professional seminars; decreased the student attrition rate in the smaller islands; increased the number of graduates from a Certificate of Education program; allowed nurses and physicians to receive special courses on reproductive health and AIDS; and provided teachers of the deaf with their first in-service courses. Additionally, the University used the system to improve its administration. While the system has been well received, faculty are undecided whether students learn as much or more in distance classes as they do in face-to-face classes. In Peru, satellite links were used to establish commercial telephone service in rugged remote areas -- resulting, surprisingly, in collection of enough revenue to pay 90% of operating costs after 2 years -- and for audio conferences which reached 90% of the health, education, and agricultural professionals in the region. The situation in the project region today is confused, since it is the center of both revolutionary and drug-growing activity. Some of the earth stations have been moved to other sites, while others continue to operate. The project also worked with NASA to establish, in a remote area of Indonesia, a solar-powered earth station supporting a telephone system and two audio-conferencing channels. The earth station demonstrated that a rural phone system can be run without electrical power or diesel generators. Many lessons were learned. On the negative side, the project came into conflict with distrustful vested interests (ministries, foreign-dominated and local telecommunications companies); it also showed that in telecommunications investments, economic rather than technical considerations have the last word. On the positive side, the project demonstrated that investments in rural telecommunications can very frequently be exceptionally productive: telephone and audio-conferencing services proved highly reliable; distance teaching and consultation through audio-conferencing highly cost-effective; and a wide variety of otherwise unavailable courses and seminars were provided to extension workers, students, professionals, and citizens in remote rural areas. The PACR includes a historic sketch of A.I.D.'s involvement in satellite communications, from 1967 until project initiation.