[AfriNIC-rpd] Policy Proposal: End user classification for Universities

[Owen DeLong]

On Jun 29, 2012, at 12:39 AM, Guy Antony Halse wrote:

> On Thu 2012-06-28 (17:48), Owen DeLong wrote:
>>   In actual fact, a University IS an LIR and the fees ARE warranted IMHO.
> 
> This might be a moot point, but I think you are making the mistake of taking
> the structure of North American and/or European universities and assuming
> that it applies universally.  In the process, you're confusing the concepts
> of academic freedom and autonomy.
> 
> In South Africa (I can't speak for other countries) the faculties of a
> university enjoy academic freedom (in fact, it is protected constitutionally
> and legally through Act 101 of 1997), but they do not have autonomy.  There
> is a single Institutional Statute that defines a public higher educational
> institution, and a single resulting governance structure.

Perhaps, but perhaps not...

Perhaps universities do provide connectivity to their student and/or faculty
residential facilities and the networks within those facilities are owned,
managed, and operated by the individual resident(s) and not the university's
IT staff.

If you are telling me that the above is not the case throughout all of Africa,
then I will accept that I do, indeed, have a potentially misguided concept of
what universities do in Africa.

Owen