University Staff Assisted Laptop Acquisition Scheme-Its Effectiveness and Implications for Human Resources Development : A Case Study of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Anambra State University, Uli, Nigeria

In 2007, the voluntary University Staff assisted laptop acquisition scheme was created by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Anambra State University, Uli branch with the support of the University management and eventual adoption by other staff unions in the community. It aimed at enabling staff of the University to acquire laptops at suitable financial terms. The belief was that by placing this technology tool in the hands of the staff, she would be helping to quickly build the necessary capacity that would help the University, then 7 years old, to speedily transform her processes for teaching, learning and administration. This paper seeks to do a forensic study of a section of the University community to ascertain the effectiveness of the scheme in achieving its goals as well as evaluate the implications of the result for future policy initiatives in staff development in the University. Data for this research has been gathered through survey method employing interviews and questionnaires. The study population is the academic staff of the Faculty of Environmental sciences of the University. Though not all staff surveyed participated in the scheme for various reasons, the impact and hence effectiveness amongst those who did varied. The level of success or otherwise achieved can be largely attributed to the human drivers of the different parts of the scheme. The problems observed in the implementation process were also evaluated and policy imperatives discussed