Conference highlights United States (U.S.) support for Ethiopian public universities’ transition to autonomous governance.
At the June 3 and 4 conference on Ethiopian Public Universities’ Transition to Autonomy Conference, held at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Addis Ababa, the U.S. government demonstrated its historic ties to Ethiopia higher education remain strong.
The conference commenced with opening remarks by the U.S. Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Naomi Fellows, alongside State Minister of Education Kora Tushune and Addis Ababa University interim president Dr. Samuel Kifle. Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Fellows said, “In the spirit of the Point Four program and the 120th anniversary of U.S.-Ethiopian relations, we want to assure you that the U.S. government and U.S. universities are your closest allies in this critical moment in the Ethiopian higher education system.”
The conference also engaged the other nine leading public universities including Bahir Dar, Haromaya, Jimma, Gondar, Mekelle, Arba Minch, Adama Science and Technology, Addis Ababa Science and Technology and Hawassa Universities in facilitated discussions on best practices and lessons learned from the AAU’s policy development process and where the other universities anticipated challenges.
The transition of Ethiopia public universities to autonomous governance constitutes a generational change in the nations’ higher education system, allowing public universities to chart their own paths towards greater academic freedom, increased financial control, enhanced linkages with domestic and international partners, and, most importantly, improved quality of education, according to Ministry of Education officials.
The United States government and U.S. universities have a long history of partnership with Ethiopian higher education with the shared goal of improving the quality of higher education. The conference featured presentations by Addis Ababa University’s (AAU) leadership team about the progress they have made in developing the key framework policy documents essential to their successful transition to autonomy.
University leaders from the next nine leading also heard insights and lessons learned from the process offered by the Technical Expert Advisory Team, funded by the U.S. Embassy as part of $316,000 grant to U.S.-based NGO IIE to support the higher education system’s transition to autonomy. The Technical Expert Advisory Team consists of Ethiopian and American higher education experts with a combined 80 plus years of experience in higher education in Ethiopia, the United States, Europe, and throughout Africa who are working with AAU’s leadership team to provide expertise and global perspective.
Interim AAU President Dr. Samuel said this input has helped AAU develop stronger, more enduring policies that will not only ensure AAU’s success as a newly autonomous university, but also providing invaluable templates and models for the other public universities transitioning to autonomy as they develop their own framework policies.
The policies developed to date through this U.S. government-supported process include AAU’s strategic plan and its university senate legislation policy (both officially adopted in January 2024), and its student admission policy, resource mobilization and diversification policy and strategy, endowment policy, internationalization policy and strategy, and the AAU Health governance framework for university’s teaching hospital and school of medicine, all of which are still in development.
Partnership in higher education is nothing new in the U.S. – Ethiopian relationship. The U.S. government and the American people have been committed to the success of higher education in Ethiopia since the very beginning our 120-year long bilateral relationship. From individual professors who helped establish departments and colleges of law, agriculture, and public health, to the founding of Haramaya, Jimma, and Gondar Universities under the U.S. government’s Point Four program to today’s efforts, the U.S. government and U.S. universities are proud of the key roles they have been able to play in the development Ethiopia’s higher education.