Abstract:
Adoption of e-portals in the Zambian higher education sector is a step in the right direction considering the potentials of the technology in connecting the university with students, potential students, staff, parents and the global community. Student assessment of the usefulness, ease of use and reliability of e-portals is however critical in determining the relevance and success of the technology. This study therefore surveyed undergraduate students' assessment of university portal at university of Lusaka. The simple random sampling technique was used to randomly select 60 undergraduate students from the faculties of Economics and finance, Law, Development studies and Public health at the university. Data was collected with a self-structured questionnaire and analyzed using statistical packaging for social sciences. The findings showed that the portal is used mainly for information purposes and rarely for core academic activities such as accessing e-learning programs, lecture notes or library materials. The major challenge students face in using the portals was unstable internet connection. Information currency and accuracy is perceived to be low and some of the students had concern about the security of their transactions via the portal. Furthermore, the respondents find the portals complex and needed technical assistance to use them effectively. The study therefore recommends that the university administration should provide more reliable internet service, ensure adequate user training and support services for students, regularly update the information on their portal and expand the usefulness of their portals to support core academic activities.
