-Through Digital technology
Capitol Hill Campus, Monrovia Liberia, January 2025 | The President of the University of Liberia (UL), Prof. Dr. Layli Maparyan, has met with officials from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the UN Women and received commitments of support in key areas covering digital technology and partnerships.
Accompanied at the meeting by senior staff of the University on Monday, January 20, 2025, on the Capitol Hill campus, Dr. Maparyan met with UNDP Resident Representative Mr. Aliou Dia and his team, and UN Women Representative to Liberia Madam Comfort Lamptey.
The goal of the meeting was to discuss possible support and other UN initiatives for the state’s premier University.
At the meeting, Mr. Dia proposed a discussion around rolling out a master’s program on digital transformation, technology, cyber security, and other programs at the University of Liberia.
Mr. Dia observed that Liberia has just a few experts on cyber security. He suggested that the master’s program should focus on artificial intelligence (AI), digital technology, and cyber security. “And when it comes to AI, I think the capacity is very, very, very low as well. So I was thinking hopefully we could reflect around those areas and see if we could start a master program,” Mr. Dia proposed.
The UNDP Resident Representative narrated that he did a similar thing in Togo by opening a master’s program in satellite imagery processing, geoscience, and geographic information systems.
According to Mr. Dia, it was transformational for the university and the country. “I don’t know how the master program is organized here, but normally it’s 18 months,” he said.
“And then if you do it three, four, five years, you end up having a critical mass of experts on AI, digital technology, and cyber security,” Mr. Dia continued.
Within three years, he estimated that you would put 100 experts in the market on cyber security. He assured Dr. Maparyan that the UNDP is at the University’s disposal for any support it may need from outside.
Highlighting his institution’s support to the University, Mr. Dia noted that a team of engineers from the UNDP has installed all the equipment at the first University Innovation Pod (UniPod), which was launched at UL in July 2024, with UNDP support. “I think once they are finished, I will invite you with the VP to do a tour and to see the UniPod,” he said.
Mr. Dia highlighted the importance of the digital technology world and how it could benefit Liberia in the implementation of the Government of Liberia’s ARREST Agenda for Inclusive Development (AAID) program.
Further, Mr. Dia noted the UNDP’s interest in supporting the University’s gender program.
“Because for us, gender, women of power is quite important for the work that we are doing,” he said. Responding, UL President Prof. Dr. Layli Maparyan said she loves these ideas and certainly wants to explore them with the UNDP further.
Looking at the trends in higher education worldwide, Dr. Maparyan suggested that AI is the frontier. “And everybody’s thinking, how is my institution going to relate to AI, both in terms of how we train our students, how we cultivate faculty expertise, and how we utilize it to upgrade our systems at the university,” she stated.
“So I’m interested in all of those topics. And you can’t use digital technologies and AI without having cybersecurity as a balance,” she added. The UL President indicated that it also has implications for economic development because it’s a new kind of business opportunity.
According to Dr. Maparyan, this new business opportunity cuts across whether to connect with businesses inside or outside the country or to engage in entrepreneurship around the provision of cybersecurity services.
Further, Dr. Maparyan stated that following a briefing with UL Vice President for Institutional Development and Planning Madam Weade Kobbah-Boley, she was excited about the UniPod at the University of Liberia. Dr. Maparyan said she is interested in bringing a gender dimension into the work that UniPod does.
For her part, UN Women Representative to Liberia, Madam Comfort Lamptey, expressed her institution’s support to the University.
She recalled that during a meeting last year, they talked about the extent to which the University, and particularly the gender division was working with the Ministry of Gender as well as the government. “And I think we noted that there was perhaps room for strengthening that partnership going forward,” she said.
She noted that UN Women is supporting the Ministry of Gender in the evaluation of the national gender policy for Liberia right now. “And I think out of that evaluation will be a revised gender policy. She noted that she sees this as an opportunity to collaborate very closely with the University of Liberia.
