Breaking Higher Education’s Iron Triangle through Distance Education: The Case of IGNOU in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Higher Education quality and relevance is an increasingly important issue in Ethiopia. Previous reforms have significantly increased financing, access and enrollment as well as transformed governance of the higher education system. This study assessed the status of higher agricultural education in Ethiopia and identified key issues for improving its relevance, quality and contribution to national development objectives. The study involved a desk review of literature, key informant discussions, focused group discussions and analysis. The findings revealed that although access to higher education in Ethiopia has improved significantly in the last two decades, important gaps, including those of quality and relevance, equity, leadership and governance remain. There are currently 176 undergraduate and more than 300 postgraduate academic programs in Ethiopia, with 35% female, and 15% private students enrolment. Of these, 50 undergraduate, 74 Masters, and 22 Doctoral programs are related to agriculture in public universities. Discussions with key informants revealed that there was a low perception of agriculture as a program of study. University programs need to be aligned to employment opportunities and relevant staff employed to support program delivery. Facilities for teaching, particularly the science subjects require improvement. The Ethiopian government should consider mechanisms to support the improved transition of graduates to employment, job creation and other opportunities. Key words: Agricultural development, Agricultural education, Ethiopia, Higher education

This article describes the development and implementation process of an innovative 10-year partnership that draws on the strengths of existing community-based rehabilitation programs to support new education and leadership development activities in Ethiopia. Current global estimates indicate that over 17 million people may be affected by disability in Ethiopia. The national population projection for 2017 indicates that approximately 80 per cent of the population resides in underserved rural areas, with limited to no access to necessary health, rehabilitation, or social services. The University of Gondar (UoG) in Ethiopia has been serving people with disabilities in and around the North Gondar Zone since its inception in the mid-1950s. Over the years, its various units have designed and implemented numerous projects, employing alternative institutional and community-based models to promote the wellbeing of people with disabilities. Lessons drawn from these initiatives and shifts in health and social work practice informed UoG’s decision to establish its Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) program in 2005. Given a shared commitment to the principles and practice of CBR, the UoG is presently collaborating with the International Centre for the Advancement of Community Based Rehabilitation (ICACBR) at Queen’s University in Canada to create new disability-related education and mentorship opportunities. These include community-based research and internship opportunities for undergraduate and graduate scholars through a shared Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program. The two institutions, in collaboration with the Mastercard Foundation, have an overall goal of creating a disability-inclusive campus and regional rehabilitation hub at UoG. In this article, the authors discuss the unique collaborative structure of project management and implementation, and the embeddedness of university-community engagement to meet project objectives informed by the North–South/South–North partnership models. They also provide critical insights to, and reflections on, the challenges inherent in international, interdisciplinary university-community collaboration and the benefits from enhancing higher education in both Ethiopia and Canada. In contrast to shorter term or smaller projects that rely heavily on individual champions, this article focuses on larger scale, process-oriented institutional learning.

This paper addresses a range of critical problems involving higher education funding, curricula, staff recruitment, retention and development, and student affairs that the system of higher education in Ethiopia is facing. After discussing the fundamental contributions of higher education to technological innovations, better health, improved service delivery, labour productivity, pluralism, and democratic governance, the paper examines the current state of affairs of higher education in Ethiopia. It not only discusses the problems and issues of higher education, but it also explores the ramifications of the pressure that the current expansion of higher education has on the staff, meagre resources, and facilities, thereby raising grave concern for the quality of education. The paper concludes that higher education institutions in Ethiopia are underfunded and understaffed with the curricula running the risk of becoming obsolete. Finally, it sheds light on ways to deal with the plethora of problems that the system of higher education in Ethiopia is encountering.

Since the overthrow of the Derg in 1991, the government of Ethiopia has em- barked on a number of reforms of the higher education sector. These reforms have been driven by the need to address geographical and structural imbalances in the higher education system, the increasingly sophisticated demand of both the public and expanding private sector for high quality employees, and the chang- ing context of international economic competition. The key elements of these reforms are: expanding access; addressing the geographical distribution of ac- cess; improving quality; and encouraging competition in the provision of higher education by allowing private provision. Since these reforms were enacted, the private higher education sector has grown significantly, providing both enhanced access to higher education and diversification of the higher education curricula. The emergence of a pluralistic higher education sector presents threats and op- portunities and has, as a consequence, generated considerable public policy de- bate in the country. However, there has been very little analysis of the sector to serve as a basis for decision-making. This paper seeks to provide information on the private higher education sector in Ethiopia by examining the general characteristics of the private provision sector and its contribution to expanding access and on the creation of new knowl- edge through research. It also examines the likely impact of plural providers on quality and the policy options adopted by the government. The analysis shows that the private sector is making a significant contribution to the expansion of higher education in Ethiopia, especially with respect to expanding access to women and the production of intermediate-level technical skills that the expanding Ethio- pian economy needs. Secondly, due to the relatively small size of private provid- ers and the tight regulatory restrictions on the types of courses and programmes that they offer, private higher education is unlikely to threaten the average qual- ity of higher education in Ethiopia in the short term. Concerns at this time about quality may be premature. However, due to capital and capacity constraints, the scope of the sector to contribute to the creation of new knowledge is limited. Finally, the paper argues that the future of private provision in Ethiopia depends critically on the growth of the public sector. In the short to medium term, it is the public higher education sector that will provide the bulk of the skills needed to staff the private provision sector. It will also depend on the growth of the Ethio- pian economy, on the policies of the government especially in respect of expan- sion of the public provision sector, on the behaviour, performance and conduct of public higher education institutions and on the easing of regulatory restrictions. The paper also points to the need for additional research to better understand the constraints and possibilities of the sector.

Reviewed by: Haile Selassie, Western Education, and Political Revolution in Ethiopia Guluma Gemeda Haile Selassie, Western Education, and Political Revolution in Ethiopia. Paulos Milkias. Youngstown, New York: Cambria Press, 2006. Pp. xx, 364. Maps. Endnotes. Bibliography. Index. $49.95. Paper. Much has been written about the Ethiopian Revolution, which ended the centuries-long monarchy in 1974 and plunged Ethiopia into a period of violence, famine, and political repression. Many Ethiopian and non-Ethiopian scholars have examined the causes of the revolution, its tumultuous early years, and the devastating long-term consequences. Paulos Milkias's Haile Selassie, Western Education, and Political Revolution in Ethiopia is another scholarly book on this very important moment in modern Ethiopian history. The book is divided into 14 chapters and a postscript. Chapters 1 and 2 provide the historical and theoretical background, respectively. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 analyze the role of modern education in Ethiopia, the penetration of Western cultural influences, and the rise of Western-educated intellectuals, who initially cooperated with the Haile Selassie regime but later turned against it. Chapters 6 through 10 discuss the involvement of French-Canadian Jesuits and United States educators in the development of higher education in Ethiopia, the alienation of Western-educated intellectuals, and the rise of the radical student movement in the 1960s and early 1970s. Chapters 11, 12, and 13 examine the challenges posed by the students and teachers to the Haile Selassie regime, the widening political protests that engulfed the feudal, autocratic government, and the rise of the Derg (the military junta) and the fall of the monarchy in 1974. Chapter 14 summarizes the main argument of the book. The postscript briefly discusses the political repression during the [End Page 191] Derg era (1974–91) and the coming to power of the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in 1991. In this book, the author attempts to explain the contradictions between modern education, which promoted Western cultural and political values, and the modernizing autocracy of the Haile Selassie government, which consolidated its power after the end of the Italian occupation (1941). Beginning in the mid-1940s, Haile Selassie recruited French-Canadian educators to expand modern education and produce loyal intellectuals who could run the government bureaucracy and manage the economic enterprises. But in the 1950s and 1960s, the emperor increasingly favored American involvement in shaping Ethiopia's higher education. The policy initially led to "a triple partnership: Haile Selassie, the Western educated elite, and the United States," united by mutual interests and interdependence (243). But by the early 1960s, as the modernization policy of the Haile Selassie government failed to produce the desired economic development, and the bond between the emperor and the United States became stronger, the Western-educated elite felt alienated and eventually turned against the regime and its Western backers. Milkias argues that the political crisis of the 1960s and early 1970s was a reaction to the feudal, authoritarian regime, which introduced Western education and values "without changing the intrinsic character pertaining to itself" (245). This book is very well written. The chapters are a bit fragmented but are short and readable. The book draws its overall strength partly from the author's personal knowledge of Ethiopian politics as a student leader in the 1960s and his involvement in some of the major events discussed in the book. Milkias reminds the reader that he knew some of the important political actors in the Haile Selassie government. Although he was a participant in the student movement of the 1960s, he writes dispassionately and with scholarly objectivity. He belongs to a generation of students who believed in dismantling the entrenched feudal order to facilitate the political and economic modernization of Ethiopia. These students were young, radical idealists. They hoped to bring about progress, democracy, and faster economic development. But after the overthrow of the monarchy, they became captives of the Marxist political ideology that they used to attack the feudal autocracy and Western cultural domination. They splintered into rival political groups and [End Page 192] became victims of repression under the Derg regime. The author points out the weaknesses of these intellectuals and the fatal mistakes they made in their attempt to radically transform...

The education reform of Ethiopia has been an impressive dimension since 1950. The expansion of education programmes in Ethiopia in the form of new universities, new courses, accelerating enrolments, institutional autonomy, curriculum revisions, new funding arrangements etc. are influencing national prosperity and boosting the development of an economy. In Ethiopia, the last two decades had been massive expansion of higher education but at the same time enrolment ratio, quality and relevance of the education system are the major challenges. Expanding higher education in any country needs vision and a strategy. Since its inception, the higher education in Ethiopia has been assuming that the modern education system followed by the western style is the only way to the development of higher education in Ethiopia. Still, the new education system is having few gaps i.e., lack of national interest, no clear directions for curriculum development and do not consider local situation or context. This study focuses on present higher education reform efforts in implication for national prosperity in Ethiopia, to analyse potential weaknesses in the higher education reform, to recommend appropriate changes for maintaining quality of education at a higher level.

There is a massive higher education expansion in Ethiopia. However, the efforts to expand higher education are characterized by great opportunities and significant challenges. The current higher education policy formulation and practice are the result of long history of traditional education in Ethiopia, the western countries’ influence and the current opportunities and challenges observed in the sector. Thus, to formulate and enact workable higher education policy in Ethiopia, one must understand the trends of higher education in Ethiopia with emphasis on purposes, challenges and achievements. The article, therefore, tries to pinpoint the history of Ethiopian higher education and concludes with recommendations for current efforts to improve higher education in the country.

Female students in institutions of higher education are at higher risk of abortion and its consequences. There is no nationally representative data on induced abortion among students in higher education institutions in Ethiopia. Hence, this study aimed to estimate the pooled prevalence of induced abortion among female students in institutions of higher education in Ethiopia. This study used a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies conducted from January 1, 2010, to June 30, 2022, in Ethiopia. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed. PubMed, Cochrane Library, Hinari, Google Scholar, CINAHL, and Global Health electronic databases were searched. The analysis was performed using STATA 14 software. Heterogeneity and publication bias were assessed using I2 statistics and Egger's test, respectively. Duval and Tweedie's 'trim and fill' method was also performed to adjust the pooled estimate. Forest plots were used to present the pooled prevalence with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of meta-analysis using the random effect model. This systematic review and meta-analysis included a total of 10 studies and 4656 study participants. The pooled prevalence of induced abortion among female students in institutions of higher education in Ethiopia was 5.06% (95%CI: 2.16, 7.96). The rate of induced abortion was 51 per 1000 women. The pooled prevalence of induced abortion among female students in institutions of higher education in Ethiopia was high. Thus, concerned bodies should design and implement an effective strategy to realize friendly and non-judgmental family planning and comprehensive abortion care service to curb the problem.

Four major factors necessitate the support for and advancement of pediatric imaging in Ethiopia. First, the demographics are loud and clear: 44% of the population is younger than 14 years and 60% is younger than 20 years. At the largest general referral hospital of the country, Tikur Anbessa Hospital in Addis Ababa, 47% of the patient population is children. Second, higher education in Ethiopia has witnessed historical undertakings through the establishment of more than 20 universities that have high need of well-trained professionals. Third, various medical specialties have already started or are in the process of establishing subspecialties like pediatric surgery, pediatric oncology and neonatology— specialties that necessitate dedicated pediatric imaging support. However, there is not a single pediatric radiologist in the country, which has an estimated population of 93 million. Fourth, there is a significant discrepancy with regard to the availability of radiologic equipment between the public and private sectors. The Faculty of Medicine of the Addis Ababa University, in Tikur Anbessa Hospital, which is a public entity, runs the only radiology residency program in the country. Currently, there is no MRI scanner at this facility. Thus graduates face major challenges when they go out to work in better-equipped public or private facilities. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Pediatric Radiology Outreach Program in Ethiopia has made the commitment to lead the efforts to support pediatric radiology education in Ethiopia. Building on the training of local radiology academic faculty members through a pediatric radiology fellowship is likely to have a sustainable positive outcome. Thus efforts to implement pediatric radiology education need to consider residents, faculty members and practicing radiologists. The educational support is multifaceted and includes regular pediatric radiology visiting professorships, tele-radiology for teaching, provision of teaching cases and recorded pediatric radiology lectures, organization of an observership at our institution (supported through the Soroosh Mahboubi International Fund for Higher Education) and research mentorship. We conduct an annual pediatric radiology continuing education course in collaboration with the Radiological Society of Ethiopia to develop pediatric imaging in the country by focusing on practicing radiologists. We emphasize how to optimize and broaden the spectrum of ultrasound studies in children. There is scarcity of CTandMRI scanners in the teaching hospitals. In the private sector these modalities are more prevalent. We specifically address pediatric CT and MRI techniques, indications and interpretations to help close the existing knowledge gap. In conclusion, the vision of the CHOP international outreach program is that there will be increasing and appropriate emphasis of pediatric imaging in the radiology residency, supported by the first batch of graduating local pediatric radiologists.

This article reports on an action research project to reorient forestry and natural resources higher education in Ethiopia. The study used a combination of methods, including questionnaires and secondary information, to understand the existing higher-education system in Ethiopia. Based on the initial analysis, a workshop was held to deliberate the findings and to draw up guidelines for forestry and natural resources higher education that reflect education for sustainable development (ESD) approaches. The results of the study show that the state of higher education with regard to forestry and natural resources has, in about half a century of such education, been influenced by several internal and external factors. It progressively evolved from endeavours dependent on foreign aid to a self-sufficient Ethiopian system. During this time, the structural distribution of graduates moved in emphasis from an earlier emphasis on the diploma to a BSc-level emphasis. Little progress has been made with regard to female graduates, student enrolment is limited and the desirability of forestry education has declined. Despite this, most of the 31 public universities in the country offer natural resources education. Curricula were found to be inadequate for the challenges of the times, as was the national demand for expert professionals. Existing epistemological foundation adheres to forestry as a commodity rather than as a social-ecological system influencing conceptual definitions of forest, forestry and forester. Within an ESD perspective, forests are identified as social–ecological systems, forestry is seen as a sustainability science and a sustainable development sector, and the forester is viewed as a systems thinker and change agent. It is agreed that higher education relating to forestry and natural resources in Ethiopia requires guidelines that encompass a non-reductionist and comprehensive disciplinary base where synergy of multidisciplinary approaches is emphasised, as in ESD. The guidelines outlined indicate how to adapt higher education in respect of forestry and natural resources to changing societal needs in Ethiopia. The emerging guidelines also point to a reorientation of academic institutional foundations and leadership and to the need for a relevant epistemological framework to guide higher-education curricula on forestry and natural resources. The emerging guidelines further stress that higher education should engage more strongly with pertinent global and national issues.

This paper examines the digitalization of higher education in Ethiopia. It mainly focuses on better understanding the policies, practices, and challenges of digitalization of higher education in the country. The necessary data were mainly generated from continental, national, and institutional policy and strategy documents. Publicly available transnational and national reports and other documents and the author’s views and lived experiences were also used to substantiate data generated through policy review. The data were analyzed using deductive thematic analysis. The themes were mainly developed based on prior research and existing literature. The findings indicate that there are sufficient and feasible policies and strategies to promote and ensure the digitalization of higher education in Ethiopia. The findings also reveal that there are initiatives that promote the practice of digitalization of higher education. However, poor internet connection, lack of adequate ICT infrastructure, lack of skilled human resources, and staff resistance to change were found to be the major barriers to enhancing the digitalization of higher education in Ethiopian higher education. The results imply that having feasible policies and strategies is a necessary but insufficient condition to ensure effective implementation of digitalization of higher education. It necessitates the government’s commitment as well as a shift in focus from the expansion of HEIs, which was the case in the last two decades, to ensuring the quality and relevance of HEIs through digital transformation.

Student engagement and the learning environment have gained momentum within the educational research space as valid factors in determining the quality of education. However, empirical evidence on the relationships between the learning environment and student engagement remains scant in the context of higher education in Ethiopia. This article examined the association between student perception of the learning environment and student engagement (affective, agentic, behavioural, and cognitive engagement). The study employed a quantitative research approach, specifically a correlational design. 334 undergraduate students selected via stratified random sampling participated in the study. Whether and how engagement is related to the learning environment within higher education institutions is examined using structural equation modelling. Results indicated that the learning environment is significantly related to cognitive, affective, behavioural, and agentic engagements. Moreover, two-group structural analysis revealed that the relationship between learning environment and cognitive engagement is significantly different for males and females, whereas other engagement dimensions did not exhibit such differences. Student engagement and the learning environment showed a low coefficient of correlation. The results of this study will contribute to designing learning environment variables in higher education that are gender-friendly and optimize engagement. Based on the results, implications are drawn for the context of higher education in Ethiopia.

In the context of low-income countries, the role of donors in public policymaking is of great importance. Donors use a combination of lending and non-lending instruments as pathways of influence to shape policy directions in aid-recipient countries. This paper reports some findings from a doctoral study on the role of the World Bank in the recent higher education (HE) policy reform process in Ethiopia. It focuses on the nature and impact of non-lending assistance by the Bank to the Ethiopian HE subsystem. Based on an interpretive policy analysis of sector reviews and advisory activities of the Bank, and selected national HE policy documents, the following findings are highlighted. First, as a ‘knowledge institution’, the World Bank produces, systematises and disseminates knowledge through policy advice, policy reports, analytical sector reviews, and thematic conferences and workshops. Second, knowledge aid from the Bank not only has a profound discursive effect on shaping Ethiopian HE policy reform priorities in accordance with its neoliberal educational agenda but also undermines the knowledge production capacity of the nation. The paper also argues that, for an effective education policy support, the Bank needs to shift its modality of engagement from knowledge aid to research capacity building.

The Ethiopian higher education system faces serious challenges in graduate employability, primarily due to a disconnect between academic curricula and labor market needs. Many graduates struggle to find meaningful employment, exacerbated by concerns over declining educational quality amid rapid institutional expansion. In light of these issues, this policy brief draws on findings from a 3-year research project titled “Education and Development in Ethiopia.” It emphasizes the urgent need for reforms in higher education, advocating for greater institutional autonomy, curriculum updates, inclusivity, and job-oriented programs that align with market demands. The brief aims to establish a structured policy framework for assessing educational outcomes, ultimately enhancing the quality of higher education in Ethiopia and better equipping graduates for success in the workforce.

Current approaches for assessing the quality of teaching and learning in higher education focus solely on compliance and accountability, and use quantitative measures that serve as indicators of institutional effectiveness and efficiency, yet whether such approaches have linked to instructional activities or students learning in universities are not clearly known. Moreover, while quality is a complex and multifaceted construct, its measurement using qualitative evidence of actual teaching and learning is generally minimal. This study fills this gap by examining broadly the perceptions of a variety of stakeholders on the quality of teaching and learning, and assessment and review experiences in higher education in Ethiopia. Here the main focus was to acquire an understanding of the existing realities in relation to these issues. For this, the study uses a qualitative case study design collecting primary data from interviews with 4 senior managers and 4 education quality experts, and focus-groups with 6 teachers and 26 students, and exploring secondary sources. The findings of this study suggest that recent quality improvement efforts are piecemeal and more geared towards quality assurance than improvement. Most quality concerns, assessment and review practices seemed to result in little more than formal reporting and were implemented very haphazardly. It, therefore, appears from the analysis of the qualitative data that there have been less visible quality improvements and numerous challenges. This study recommends a functioning internal system, formative assessment, and the support and ownership of those who work in the sector as crucial for the implementation of quality improvement.