Continuous Professional Development Program for Higher Education Academics in Ethiopia. Views, Perceived Needed Competencies and Organization in Focus

Abstract

This paper is aimed at describing and exploring staff development issues in Ethiopian higher education. The principal research question of the study reads as how do the academic staff, view the need of short term continuous professional development trainings and how they prefer such trainings to be organized in Ethiopian higher education? To respond to this question, open and close ended questionnaires, interviews, documents and literature review were used as data collection instruments. The data was analyzed using qualitative and quantitative approaches. The findings of the study, has shown that academic staff have mixed opinions about the need for short term continuous professional development trainings. However, the study identified the perceived needs of academic staff that might be considered while organizing staff development programs that focus on teaching and research. It also revealed what competencies, academic staff need to develop continuously in their teaching and research roles .It has also identified, why academic staff prefer professional development trainings to be organized in terms of the structure, modes of delivery, training providers, site, time, follow up, reward and recognition, and necessary conditions. Besides, the paper has provided some suggestions that may sustain the existence and quality of staff development programs/trainings. The issues suggested are related to, giving due recognition to staff development activities, providing professional development for all, budget, inclusive of monitoring and evaluation. Comparative study and comprehensive needs assessment on a large scale on the issue under focus are identified, as possible future research agenda .