A team from Coscharis Technologies visited the Faculty on Friday, 27 December, 2013.  The team which comprised Clement Nnedu, the Project Manager,  Mukoro S. E. the Managing Director  and Mogbo James I. embarked on the visit to propagate the evangelism of Solidworks Technology in Education.  The team, among other things desired the University to adopt Solidworks technology as well as learn how to teach with the technology.  This is with the aim of transforming the University into e-UI.  The Dean, Professor E. A. Ajav led the Faculty team to welcome them.  Other members of the Faculty present were Dr. A. A. Dare, the Ag. Head, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dr. D. A. Fadare of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Head, Technical Support Unit (TSU), Dr. O.O. Jeje, Engineer S. K. Fasogbon, J.S. Bolade, all of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and K. K. Adeogun, Administrative Officer, Dean’s Office.  While speaking, Coscharis team leader, S. E. Mukoro explained that Solidwork is a design solution or tool cutting across technological fields.  He stated that his organisation had struck an agreement with university ranking bodies and the Federal government in an attempt to work with universities all over the country to introduce Solidworks in the education sector.  And the University of Ibadan will be the first beneficiary.  He informed his host that Coscharis would provide a platform known as Virtual Classroom.  The platform contains seven million journals and three million e-books on technology covering the period of the last 1000 years.  The platform would provide Tablets and ipads that need only charging but not internet to function.  Students could go to their respective homes with it.  It would cost N30,000 plus additional N5,000 for the content.  Alternatively, it could be placed on the server in which case students will be able to connect, using appropriate phones and other electronic devices, as long as they are within the coverage area.  At this juncture, the Dean complained about the epileptic nature of electricity supply on campus and Mr. Mukoro informed of the existence of a solar charger which sells for N2,500 only.  Better still, with the necessary funding, he promised to assist in the installation of hydro-thermal energy that could power the entire University which would be the first of its kind in the country.  This is achievable provided a flowing river is available.

A member of the Faculty team then enquired for how to set up the platform to meet specific needs; for example creating a lesson.  Mr. Mukoro informed that there is a Learning Management System (LMS) which teaches how to create a lesson.  Another member of the Faculty team expressed concern about the cost implication of the Tablet since some students already possess laptops.  He requested for a form of loaning system which will include maintenance cost spanning a period of five years.  He also requested for a possible integration of the content into the existing laptops.  Members of the Coscharis team expressed the possibility of such integration into students’ laptops.

A member of the Faculty team requested for a pilot to establish the workability of the project.  To this, Mr. Mogbo James of Coscharis informed that the University of Uyo already has it in place.  He explained that two spaces would be needed or a large space that could be split into two.  One section would house Robotics while the other would house Research.

At this point, the Dean requested the visiting team to forward a mini proposal on solidworks and hardware to target about 1,000 students.

A member of the Faculty team enquired if training for staff would be available.  The leader of the visiting team explained that training is indeed the core and that training of staff would impact positively on the whole exercise.  After licensing, access to personal training would be granted.

The Dean thanked the team for coming and promised to inaugurate a small committee to

link up with the Vice Chancellor.