Information and Communication Technologies Can Bring About Better Cities, Better Lives

April 22, 2010 - PRLog -- With its theme of “Better City, Better Life with ICTs,” World Telecommunication and Information Society Day on May 17, 2010, is a day to focus on the importance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)  and to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide.

As a Fulbright Senior Specialist on ICT with the US Council of International Exchange of Scholars and a Senior Advisor to the United Nations initiative on ICT for the Developing Countries, Dr. Amjad Umar knows first-hand the huge potential of ICTs to improve the lives of people. He brings those experiences to the Harrisburg University of Science and Technology’s classrooms as director of both the Master of Science in Information Systems Engineering and Management (ISEM) and Management and e-Business degree programs.  

Umar designed the ISEM degree program at Harrisburg University of to educate information and communication technology leaders who can manage, as well as engineer or re-engineer, the current, and next, generation of digital enterprises.   And it can play a role in closing the international digital divide and in transforming the region’s economy.

“While the world’s cities are undoubtedly endowed with many advantages, the disparities between the haves and the have nots among urban populations is often a vivid reminder that the vast majority is left out of the reach of development. It is ironic that even in densely populated urban centres countless millions are deprived of access to the means of communication and information that are taken for granted by others,” says Umar.  

Along with this growing digital divide, the lack of safe drinking water, sanitation, food, shelter, health care and education are basic needs that are addressed by the Millennium Development Goals, which calls for the significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.

By tapping into the huge potential of ICTs to improve the lives of people and by providing affordable and equitable access to information and knowledge to empower everyone to achieve their aspirations, administrations can contribute towards meeting the rising expectations of an ever-growing population in the world’s cities. Acting as catalysts for a more productive and better life, ICTs open the door to a myriad of solutions that help achieve harmony among the spatial, social and environmental aspects of cities and among their inhabitants, explained Umar.

Close to home, Pennsylvania can use ICT to transform its current industrial base to a highly flexible information technology enabled enterprise model and attract high tech companies to compete and succeed in this highly digital global economy, says Dr. Umar.  This transformation requires enterprise engineers and managers who can plan, integrate, secure and administer these digital enterprises where nearly all significant business processes and relationships with customers, suppliers, and employees are digitally enabled and key corporate assets are managed through digital means.

“In order to improve the economy of this region, we must educate business and government leaders on how to link IT to business strategy while improving the quality of IT education,” explained Umar. “This region’s economy has made tremendous strides in transforming into a knowledge-based economy in the past two decades. It all began with educating the business leaders and then improving the quality of the information technology programs in the region to ensure that they are market-driven. However, it is imperative that Central Pennsylvania businesses and organizations learn how to use IT for strategic advantage.”  

Umar designed the ISEM program to educate IT leaders in the digital age and to help students acquire the skills to plan for and integrate technologies with processes and people that are key to the success of an organization in today's complex, digital world.  The 36-credit-hour degree program is the only one of its kind in the region, and it uniquely combines systems thinking, management expertise, and engineering with emphasis on digital enterprises.  

The core courses of the program will provide the student with a strong background in the most recent thinking in systems engineering, strategic IS planning, business strategy and management, service science and management, systems analysis and design, and enterprise architectures and integration. The student can take elective courses that span topics such as project management, leadership, egovernment, mobile computing and wireless communications, ICT infrastructure, business simulations and games, multimedia systems and visualization, information security and governance, business process modeling, modern systems development, and others. Additionally, research-oriented students can pursue independent studies and master’s thesis projects to investigate areas of individual or professional interest.

This program is designed for managers and information technology professionals who recognize the personal and professional value of an advanced degree. And it can prepare graduates for positions such as systems engineer, architect and integrator, business systems analyst, management analyst, software engineer, IS manager, and security planner and manager.  

The author of six book, Umar consults and has consulted with  global telecom organizations including the US Department of Navy, US Army Research Labs, Frost and Sullivan (England), Toyota Corp., Society of Manufacturing Engineers, manufacturing organizations, professional services organizations, as well as academic institutions in England, Singapore, China, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina and Canada.

As an entrepreneur, he has formed a startup that is concentrating on the business and technical aspects of next generation enterprises. He has received numerous awards (Faculty Award from IBM, Fulbright Senior Specialist Award from the US Council of International Exchange of Scholars, Distinguished Faculty Award from the University of Michigan, Best Adjunct Faculty Award from Fordham, and Outstanding Performance Awards from Bellcore).

For more information on the program, call 717.901.5101 or email Admissions@HarrisburgU.edu

Founded in 2001 to address Central Pennsylvania’s need for increased opportunities for study leading to careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields,  Harrisburg University is an innovative and ambitious private institution that produces graduates who provide increased competence and capacity in science and technology disciplines to Pennsylvania and the nation. Harrisburg University ensures institutional access for underrepresented students and links learning and research to practical outcomes. As a private University serving the public good, Harrisburg University remains the only STEM-focused comprehensive university located between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

For more information on the University's demand-driven undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs in applied science and technology fields, call 717.901.5146 or email Connect@HarrisburgU.edu.

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Established in 2001 to address Central Pennsylvania’s need for increased opportunities for study leading to careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, Harrisburg University is an innovative and ambitious private institution.