Reflections
on Ethiopian Higher Education
This page provides a list of occasional
commentaries on diverse higher education issues in Ethiopia. I post my views and others and
welcome comments and constructive criticisms.
Building Research Capacity in Ethiopian
Universities: The Realities and the Challenges. Speech prepared for a
Conference on Higher Education in Ethiopia:
Future Challenges. 15-16 December 2007 at the United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa (UNECA). Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Damtew Teferra)
The research and innovative capabilities of the nation’s universities
could be enhanced dramatically through graduate education if they are directed
by competent and accomplished leadership, guided by concerted strategic mission,
and genuinely endorsed by the academic community. A healthy relationship
between these dynamics and others is a prerequisite to any meaningful results.
The mission of building research capacity in Ethiopia however is much grandeur
than the mandates of respective universities….Read more.
Academic Freedom,
the Academy and Politics in Ethiopia -- A paper presented
at a Panel on Political Detentions, Elections, and ‘Democracy’
in Ethiopia” on 7 December 2005, Harvard University, USA
(Damtew Teferra)
Many repressive regimes are quick
in mastering the art of exploiting contemporary global -- real and perceived
-- threats (and even fads) to silence their opponents and crackdown on freedom
of speech, writing, and assembly. The twenty-first century has its own Cold
War geopolitics triggered by the War on Terror. And many repressive regimes
are capitalizing on it by appearing to be partners in the struggle. Such
global fads have a ripple effect on academic freedom and human rights of
the common man and woman at the margins of the globe. Read more.
Key Note Speech Delivered
at the Third National Conference on Private Higher Education in Ethiopia:
Paving the Road for Quality Education in Ethiopia on August 20, 2005
at Sheraton Addis, Ethiopia (Damtew Teferra)
For economically challenged countries
like Ethiopia, there is a great need to utilize
the meager resources very wisely and strategically while at the same time,
exploring and tapping external resources vigorously. It is important that
the first approach thus should be creating an effective networking mechanism
among higher education institutions across the nation in sharing resources
and expertise. Second, and most importantly, it is my opinion that while
research is carried out in all public universities—new and old, and also
a very few aspiring private university/colleges—Ethiopia must seriously invest
in building a few select research institutions, programs and initiatives
with an unwavering determination to foster and nurture its strategic position
and international competitiveness. Read more.
A Speech Delivered
by Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher -- One of the Five Recipients of Honorary Doctorate
Degrees from Addis Ababa
University at the Occasion of the Graduation Ceremeony, 24 July 2004)
My country is still very poor.
I leave it to you young graduates with myriads of options ahead of you to
bring sufficiency to every Ethiopian life. I would love it if you could change
every child that begs for a meal to a student like you. My continent
is still the most down-trodden. I would love it if every African could be
so respected that she/he would be granted a visa to any country in a matter
of minutes. I would like to see the queues in every European and American
Embassy gate in every African capital dissolve away. I would love to see
all Embassy gates deserted. Read more.
Academic Freedom and
Academic Excellence (A Speech Delivered by Donald N. Levine -- One of the
Five Recipients of Honorary Doctorate
Degrees from Addis Ababa University
at the Occasion of the Graduation Ceremeony, 24 July 2004)
The truth is that those in Power
need, today more than ever, an independent and open quest for truth. Although
the conclusions of the process of such inquiry may at times bring discomfort
to the powers that be, surrounded as we are by unprecedented changes of enormous
complexity, it stands to the advantage of these powers to support free inquiry
and to be open to its honest conclusions. Failure to do so can result in
calamities, based simply on ignorance and uninformed judment. Read more.
Good
Intentions and Misunderstandings: A Response to William Saint (Yosef Yacob,
6 August 2004, Published on Addis Tribune)
Even though my expertise is not
in the field of higher education and policy, I am aware of at least ten published
Ethiopian PhDs in this field who are extremely qualified to participate
in developing a national policy for Ethiopian higher education. Common sense
and a sincere interest calculated to promote Ethiopia's national interests would suggest,
at the very least, an invitation to Ethiopian experts (both within and outside
the country), to play a prominent role in the study. Surely, these indigenous
experts could not have escaped the attention of the World Bank, or the Ethiopian
government. Read more.
Commentary
in Response to the World Bank Education Sector Report on Ethiopian Higher
Education (Jared Odero, 26 July 2004)
In the case of Ethiopia, the concerned people at the universities
ought to look at some of the World Bank recommendations to neighboring countries
to understand their successes and failures. Read more.
Dispelling
the Notion of Misunderstanding: Confronting the Entrenched Norms* (Damtew
Teferra, 9 June 2004**)
For all we know, at least, for
many of us both academicians and researchers in higher education and (Third
World) development workers, the World Bank prescriptions and positions take
precedence over not just those developed by nations but other international
and multinational organizations and institutions. A true and living memory
of relevance is the World Bank’s “rate of return” study which has been highly
criticized for its devastating impact on the development of higher education
in Africa. Read more.
Prescriptions
and Antidotes, Good Intentions and Misunderstandings (William Saint, 6 June
2004*)
The
first misunderstanding is that he views the recent World Bank report, Higher
Education Development for Ethiopia: Pursuing the Vision, as the Bank’s “prescription”
for Ethiopian higher education. This is incorrect because a legitimate prescription
already exists. This prescription is contained in the Government of Ethiopia’s
“Higher Education Proclamation” that was approved by Parliament in June 2003.
The Proclamation provides a thoughtful, forward-looking policy framework
for guiding the growth of Ethiopian higher education over the medium term.
Read more.
The
World Bank Prescription for Ethiopian Higher Education: The Missing Antidote
in "Pursuing the Vision" (Damtew Teferra, 3 June 2004)
With greatest respect to the Ethiopian
delegates and their respective institutions they represent, Ethiopia is endowed with and capable of
mobilizing a much more experienced, highly competent, and highly informed
professionals to face the seasoned and high powered World Bank delegates--in
writing the blue print for Ethiopian higher education. This is simply a serious
national affair in which the government and the nation must stand tall in
engaging and accommodating competent and qualified professionals--that may
be controversial and excessively critical, even at times arrogant and obnoxious--and
their institutions, in such important and far reaching issue of great significance--and
consequence. The genius of a nation takes pride in its capacity to nurture
tolerance, descent, and criticism. Read more.
Re-Engineering
Ethiopian Knowledge Centers (Damtew Teferra, 2003)
The Ethiopian government has opted
for a national economic policy guided by "Agricultural-Development-Led-Industrialization".
This position makes sense for a rural agrarian country like Ethiopia. The development of agriculture
not just for self-sustenance but also industrialization is a well-intentioned
policy. This policy however needs to be moderated in order to take stock
of the emerging global knowledge-based economy. Read more.
Strategies
for Revitalizing Ethiopian Knowledge Institutions (Damtew Teferra, 2000)
“Why do we need a university,
after all?” may appear a naïve, if not a frivolous, question. But what kind
of a university should we build is for sure a much more complicated one that
draws considerable discussion and debate. Without being philosophical and
drawn too much to the broader discussions and debates, it is clear that for
any society that aspires to break the cycle of misery, poverty, and, deprivation,
develop and compete as a community, and ensure the sustainable growth of
a nation, the development and maturity of the knowledge industry is without
doubt too crucial. To underscore, the eminence of this knowledge industry
has become even more critical now as the economic paradigm of the twentieth
century, that was largely dependent on natural resources has appeared to
have shifted toward a knowledge- and information-based economy. Read more.
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