Transforming education: the power of ICT policies - Commonwealth ...

health, and environmental protection, among others. Its components are: (1) the promotion of innovation in
private enterprises; (2) strengthening technological services; (3) strengthening professional skills in prioritized
areas; (4) support to innovation projects with high public interest; and (5) strengthening of the ANII’s ability to
monitor and assess projects (IDB, 2008).
apple Finally, Uruguay’s Digital Agenda (UDA) 2008-2010, developed by AGESIC, is the country’s programme for
addressing ICT issues at a national level, including the development and enhancement of ICT infrastructure,
goals related to social equality in the use of ICT as well as the generation of educational contents. It promotes
transparency, democratic strengthening, digital inclusion and e-government -among other aspects- in order to
improve the population’s quality of life (AGESIC, 2008).
The UDA includes seven strategic action lines:
apple equity and social inclusion;
apple democratic strengthening;
apple state reform;
apple infrastructure development;
apple knowledge-based economic development;
apple culture, education and knowledge production; and
apple regional insertion and integration.
In particular, the infrastructure development line’s main objective is to develop and enhance the technological
infrastructure at a national level, as well as to achieve the technical skills required to its sustainability. Each
one of these lines had several objectives and goals (to be achieved in 2008-2010, including a set of projects to
implement the action lines (Figure 4). 40
Figure 4: Overall Structure of Uruguay’s Digital Agenda
Source: Adapted from Rios, 2008
Some of the main goals included in the UDA are (AGESIC, 2008):
apple Complete implementation of Plan Ceibal across the whole country, providing access and connectivity to all
urban and rural educational institutions;
apple Install 15 Centres for Access to the Society of Information (CASI) and 15 Centres for Social Internet (CSI) every
year, until 2009, in order to increase access points to the Information Society;
apple Implement the strategic plan of the software industry, to triple exports between 2008 and 2010;
apple Install an e-government platform in at least 50 government institutions by 2010;
40 Information about the level of achievement was not available at the date of this publication.
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