Located on a large expansive piece of land on the outskirts of Eldoret town is the Moi University main campus. It was first established in 1984 as the second public university in Kenya. The university is also a member of Kenya Education Network(KENET).

A spot check by the KENET team however revealed that the university is making headways in utilizing the Internet resource. At the school of Information Science where we talked to a number of students, they all posit that Internet is an integral part of their academic life.

According to John and his friend Mercy,both information science students,Internet has been of great help to them. They have always used Internet to supplement what they get from their instructors and course texts.

At the time of our visit to the campus was launching six of their project and ICT was among them. During the presentation of the project the vice chancellor of the university stressed on the importance of the Internet and urged the students and lectures to make maximum use of the resource. To this end the vice chancellor also promised to get the university a generator to ensure that there is no power failure that can interrupt Internet supply.

The university has also endeavoured to ensure that each of the schools in the university has computers that are connected to the Internet

The Learning Resource Centre

From a distance the Learning Resource centre,which serves the Moi University students at the town campus,appears like any other ordinary building. Students entering and exiting the building are a common sight. However there is more to this than meets the eye.

Upon close scrutiny one is more likely to find students browsing the computers,others busy downloading the files.

A brief interview with some students reveal that the Internet is lifeline.“In order to perform well in exams and have adequate knowledge one must read the instructors notes,search for more information about the subject on the Internet and then consult text books,”notes one of the nursing students.

So much engrossed into the world of Internet are some students that they can only spare at most two minutes for interview.

According to one of the students findings in medical research is published every day on the Internet and cites the example of science daily. One research that captured my eyes is that of micro sponges derived from seaweeds that may help diagnose heart disease,cancer,HIV, and other diseases quickly and at a lower cost than current clinical methods.

The students cite Internet as one of the avenues that has great potential for research since information is timely.

In order to keep a close track of what is happening in medical world students usually access on line journals. Some of the journals include patient education and counseling. malaria centre report and medical journal of Islamic world academy of science.

Chepkoilel Campus

“The place of ICT in the growth of business and industrialization,Kenya vision 2030 in perspective.”These are the words that captured my attention as I made my way into Chepkoilel Campus.

A group of young enthusiastic students can be seen near the big poster. As I approach to greet them one unique feature about this group comes out:The students' strong affinity for Internet is evident. A chat with Charles a third year student in computer science reveals that Internet is lifeline for students at the campus. “You should pay us a visit we are hosting big companies for our annual ICT conference,”notes Charles.

According to the students the annual conference will host big players in the ICT world. The conference is also meant to showcase talent among the Information Technology students. Students will also display the the softwares they came up with. In addition the students will also shed some light on how to effectively utilize Internet resources. Charles whom we alluded to earlier cites that he has been developing softwares. According to him the task of coming up with a good software is not easy and he has to rely on Internet to keep close track of what his colleagues from other parts of the world do to come up with better softwares.

In its quest to ensure that students have access to high speed Internet KENET has put up a tower within the university compound.

In order to cater for the high demand of Internet Chepkoilel campus has put up an additional computer lab stocked with seventy computers for students use.

A number of students whom I spoke to have nothing but praise for the Internet.

“Through the Internet I can explore the world around me searching for knowledge while at the university and I can easily communicate with relatives,friends and fellow students who are far away via the e-mail and other social sites,”says John an Education student.

The students at the university are also enjoying the benefits of the e-learning platform.

Moi University Law School

They spend most of their free time glued to the computer screens usually catching up with what is happening in the law courts and recent law reviews.

To give me a glimpse of how he utilizes Internet resources a second year law student takes me to the sites he visits to update himself on law. He smiles in admiration as we download a law movie he has always liked.“I have been addicted to law movies for along time now,”he confirms.

From the look of things he is not the only diehard fan of Internet most of his colleagues can be heard talking fondly about the law movies they have been downloading from the Internet. To fix his addiction he uses high speed Internet connection.

However,most of the students seem to be reading from the same script. The students argue that in their law profession the review of past cases is of paramount importance and since most of those cases are rarely documented they are forced to rely on Internet to access past cases.

According to the students the past law cases and the recent ones can easily be accessed with the use of Internet.“You get all that you want with a click of a button,”says a young lady who is also a law student.