Universities are gradually evolving from the purely traditional system to the modern technologically induced system. The rate of this technology-driven status of universities globally is unprecedented. This makes it imperative that new entrants who are not up to speed on information and communication technology (ICT) skills are brought up to speed in relatively short times. Therefore, an immediate orientation course in ICT aimed at developing students’ skills to cope with the technologically loaded university environment should be the prerogative of universities. This would help boost teaching and learning activities in universities while maximizing expected behavior change in students after their university education.

Course activities in today’s universities are simplified in technology. For example, teaching and learning materials are now in electronic format. These electronic resources must be downloaded by students from specific websites provided by the teacher.

Sometimes some teachers conduct virtual classes online with their students due to geographical limitations due to emergency workshops, conferences and meetings. Additionally, numerous assignments require students to conduct extensive research using online databases. Most of these works must be sent electronically to the professor’s email address or uploaded to a virtual platform created by the professor or the institution. So, if a student is lacking in ICT skills, how can he or she cope with this technology-induced college environment?

Some may argue that students at the upper secondary school level were required to take ICT lessons to shield them from technology-immersed tertiary education. True it may be, most of the students at the high school level were not privileged to have had this opportunity due to many challenges. This may be due to a lack of technological equipment, as well as a qualified instructor in the field to better manage the delivery of instruction. This group of students in most local communities and some urban centers are therefore highly technology deficient. When they find their way to universities, they find themselves in a completely hostile environment filled with technology that they must quickly catch up to on their own. Fast learners can pick up these ICT skills quickly from friends who had the privilege of technology training, while slow and timid learners end up throwing in the towel on a college education.

Others experience the first unfair rating attack as the main by-product of their technology skills deficiency. Unfortunately, these ‘snail-to-tech’ students are mocked by their peers and some professors who have tech privileges. This is experienced a lot when group assignments and presentations are going to take place on virtual platforms. Demoralized students are often victims of absenteeism at conferences that are solely based on technology. This gap that exists between students who are proficient in technology and those who are deficient must be closed.

An immediate remedy would be the organization of ICT classes tailored to the requirements and expectations of university students. This short course or orientation must be carried out in the first week of the student’s entrance to the university. It can even be scheduled as part of the orientation sessions that are normally enacted at virtually every university in the world. This training aimed at equipping new entrants with basic ICT skills would help them to be able to cope and succeed in their new technology driven environment.

Tertiary institutions should prioritize the organization of these ICT lessons, as the traditional face of universities is rapidly transforming into a technology-induced condition. This great feat would help bolster academic work at universities while stopping the evil of student absenteeism due to lack of tech skills.