ICT Directorate

The Polytechnic’s ICT Directorate formerly known as Polytechnic Internet Café was set up by the management of Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic (HUKPOLY) to provide computing facilities and other related infrastructures in order to support teaching, research, extension, consultancy and administrative activities for all Colleges, Departments, Units and Sections in the Polytechnic. The ICT was also established to implement Polytechnic’s strategic priorities to facilitate and promote administrative leadership, staff collaboration and cross-organizational efforts to advance the course of research and development.

VISION STATEMENT

The vision of ICT is to provide robust infrastructure and collaborative services to facilitate the teaching, learning, research and administrative functions of the Polytechnic. The directorate is empowered to exploit ICT to its full capability thereby assisting the institution in elevating its position to a best possible academic environment and to support the realization of the strategic objectives of the institution. The directorate is also charged with the responsibility of making the Polytechnic community computer-literate through short and medium term trainings.

MISSION STATEMENT

Our mission is to mobilize ICT tools and Services to support the activities of the directorate and also to boost the image of the Polytechnic. To coordinate, and facilitate the ICT tools to transform the institution into an automated work environment that supports research, teaching, learning, and other ICT extensions. This will empower members of the polytechnic community with skill and basic knowledge that will enable them carry out their activities effectively thereby improving and sustaining the productivity of staff and students. This will eventually create a learning atmosphere engrossed with technological innovations, global initiatives, staff collaboration and cross-organizational efforts to advance the course of research and development in the Polytechnic.

OBJECTIVES OF THE DIRECTORATE

  1. To plan, develop and manage robust Institution-wide ICT infrastructure.
  2. To connect all members of staff and students in Polytechnic for collaborative work.
  3. To manage the Polytechnic’s Staff and students’ record/portal.
  4. To carry out research and development in ICT in collaboration with other Departments and units.
  5. To involves in regular training for end-users on computer related applications.
  6. To promote staff development programme in order to ensure that necessary skills are acquired to provide high-quality teaching, learning, research and services.
  7. Regularly update Web pages with news within the Polytechnic.
  8. Collate recent research and major breakthroughs within the Polytechnic and made them available on the Website.
  9. To carry out Troubleshooting of networking problems and proffer solution.
  10. Manages Polytechnic’s e-mail Accounts – the Directorate provides official e-mail accounts for academic and non-academic staff.
  11. Carry out an On-line registration of students.
  12. To undertake Departmental, Units, Centre’s web-design and web-hosting for the Polytechnic.
  13. To carry out Consultancy Service.
  14. To develop specialised computer training programmes within and in partnership with foreign computing organisations (Ex. ORACLE and CISCO Academy).
  15. To provide ICT-rich learning environment for teaching and learning in structured groups.
  16. To provide access to specialized web-based research sites and databases.
  17. Conduct Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and other Computer Based Tests (CBTs)

FACILITIES

The use of Information & Communication Technology (ICT) is a valuable tool to enhance the learning experience and accessing resources. HUKPOLY invested heavily on ICT in order to easily deliver education at a higher quality and acceptable standards. The following are some of the facilities owned by HUKPOLY and managed by the ICT Directorate.

Computer Based Test (CBT) Facilities

  • The directorate has an accredited JAMB CBT center with 500 candidates’ capacity.
  • The center handles in school examination for mostly general courses offered by the institution.
  • The CBT center also handles third party examination on request, example aptitude test, promotional examination etc

Internet Accessibility

HUKPOLY has subscribed for robust internet connectivity receiving 20Mbps from MTN Nigeria. The internet is accessible around the campus providing a reliable and efficient Internet connection to the polytechnic community.

Wireless Coverage & Connectivity

HUKPOLY provides a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) to the polytechnic community allowing the internet to be accessed from most places on campus. The wireless coverage is freely available 24/7 to legal polytechnic community members.

THE PROPOSED UNITS IN THE ICT DIRECTORATE

  1. Network/Hardware Engineering Unit.
  2. Software Engineering Unit.
  3. Training, Research and Development Unit.
  4. Management Information System Unit.
  5. Hardware Maintenance Unit.
  6. Multimedia Unit.

MASSAGE FROM THE COORDINATOR

The ICT Directorate is committed to developing, deploying and supporting innovative, quality and sustainable Information and Communication Technology solutions and services that meet the changing learning, teaching, research and management needs of the Polytechnic. In addition, to maximize student and staff productivity, enhance teaching, learning and improve quality of research through Information Communication Technology and Knowledge Management. Our services will be recognized as an innovative and influential function, playing a core role in the operation and ongoing development of Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic. We are also committed to the marketing of Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic staff and students through innovation, research and development.

ABOUT THE COORDINATOR

Lawal Idris Bagiwa is currently pursuing his PhD in Computer Science from Alqalam University, Katsina, he obtained a Masters degree in Computer science from Universiti Teknologi, Malaysia in 2016. He specialized in networking and information security and his current research interest is Internet of things (IoT). Lawal has attended various local and international conferences and has published in reputable local and international journals. He was the immediate past examination officer of Computer studies department and acted as head of department for two different times. However, he is currently the coordinator Information and Communication Technology (ICT) of the institution. He worked with various Government and non-Governmental organizations in full-time, part-time and consultancy capacity; He joined the service of Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic in the year 2007. He has registered with various professional bodies including Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) and Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN). He is happily married and the marriage is blessed with five children