The Government of Ethiopia has revised its college acceptance quota that forces higher education institutions in the country to enroll 70 percent of their students under natural science field of study, leaving the remaining 30 percent for social science study.
The revised regulation now allows higher education institutions to reduce the 70 percent natural science quota to 55 percent, while the remaining 45 percent is allocated to social science field of study.
This is indicated by Mr. Dechasa Girma, public relations officer of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. He told the state daily English newspaper, The Ethiopian Herald, that as of the current school year, which began in September, the Ministry has started implementing the new regulation.
He indicated that the previous regulation that forces 70 percent of the students in the country to study natural sciences without their interest has failed to create jobs and contributed to the increase of unemployment in Ethiopia. The revision of the regulation is made based on the assessment of the professional human resource needs of the country, according to Mr. Dechasa.
It is stated that currently 142,900 students are studying in 45 universities located all over Ethiopia. Mentioning that there are many institutions in the country that can create jobs for social science graduate students, he indicated that some 200 private higher institutions are also teaching more students in social science field of study than in natural science.