Education Sector Development Program - VLIR-UOS

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Education Sector Development Program IV The Convergence Plan adopted in 2008/2009 provided further guidance when establishing the 70% and 30% placement objective for sciences & technology (S&T) and social/human sciences (SHS). Twenty-two universities are now distributed over the country with thirteen additional ones created under ESDP III. Higher Education Higher education in Ethiopia has a relatively short history of some 60 years only, but during the past ten years it has undergone both major quantitative and qualitative change. A succession of new policies was designed and implemented, with the Education and Training Policy (1994) being the first major framework for systems reform and transformation. The policy stressed issues of quality and relevance in educational programs and emphasized the linkage of higher education and the country’s development. The Higher Education Proclamation 351/2010/11 was another major milestone which drastically changed the structural and functional components of higher education system in the country. It provided the framework for the planning of the higher education subsector under the ESDP III. The Proclamation has been further enhanced by the new Proclamation 650/2009 which is now the basis for legal transformation of higher education. In this section, a situational analysis of the ESDP III higher education component will be presented, and major challenges identified before presenting the overall program goal, strategic outcomes, policies and strategies as well as major components for the higher education section of ESDP IV. The higher education section of ESDP IV suggests pursuing and consolidating ongoing reform such as systems expansion and changes in the governance system. Major new emphases are guided by the present overarching development vision of Ethiopia to become a middle-income country by the year 2025. One major new emphasis will be the concern with improving the quality and the employability of university graduates. The sustainable development of research capacity for knowledge creation and technology transfer in priority sectors is another one. 1. Situation analysis During the ESDP III period (2004/05 to 2008/2009) the overall enrolments as well as the intake capacity of the higher education institutions significantly increased. Twentytwo universities are now distributed over the country with thirteen additional ones created under ESDP III. With respect to the private sector, more than 50 higher education institutions have been accredited within the planning period. Thus, the overall enrolments have increased from 149,694 to 319,217 in the planning period of which 55,264 are enrolled in non-government institutions and this accounts 17.3% of the total enrollment. It shows that the private higher institutions have an observable contribution to the education sector. As a consequence, the GER for higher education increased from 3.6% in 1999 to 5.3 % in 2008/2009. This means that the Ethiopian higher education has now come close to the African average in GER of 6% in 2000. In the same manner, degree program admissions to government institutions have increased from 36,405 in 2004/05 to 77,182 in 2009/10. But the achievement is not in line with the public admission target for 2009/10 which was 110,000. As indicated in ESDP III, expansion was to be realized through both expansion of the existing eight universities, and construction of additional 13 universities. A significant improvement of enrolments have been observed in all universities, including in the new ones, but enrolment targets could not be reached due to the delay of the construction of the buildings. In ESDP III, distance education was foreseen as a means to expand access to higher education. An Ethiopian Open University was to be created and to develop distance education in the existing universities. Due to institutional reasons, Ethiopian Open University was not created, but many universities have developed their distance education provision. The share of enrolments in distance education stood at 12.6% in 2008/2009. The development of post-graduate training programs was a priority in ESDP III. Enrolment in post-graduate program was expected to increase from 3,884 to 26,000 in the year 2009/10. In reality, total enrolment in post-graduate programs reached only 10,125 in 2008/2009. Most of the universities organized Gender Office to provide different support for female students. Special support programs have been arranged to enable female students to compete with their male counterparts. Some of the methods used to enable female students are using older students to coach new arrivals, organizing female association, establishing reward system for effective female students and arranging orientation programs using female professionals to be used as role model. Due to the methods and implementation of affirmative action policy, the share of female enrolment progressed in the period from 24% to 29%. With regard to female academic staff, while absolute numbers are improving, the share stood at 9% in 2008/2009 while the target is 26% for 2009/10. The academic staff development which goes with the post-graduate program received due consideration to train the academic staff abroad 62
Education Sector Development Program IV and within the country. Due to the expansion of postgraduate programs the academic staff has more than doubled under ESDP III. Thus the number of academic staff moved from 4,847 in 2004/05 to 11,238 in 2009/10. The share of females has remained at 10%. Currently about 1,145 academic staff are attending PhD programs abroad and within the country. The performance development process for academic staff supports a culture of continuous learning and performance improvement, thus demonstrating the government’s commitment to developing and retaining academic talent. With a view to putting in place a structure for external quality assurance, HERQA was established. It developed during the planning period a mechanism for the accreditation of private higher education institutions / HEIs and it initiated a process of auditing both public and private HEIs. As part of the national governance reform, the Higher Education Strategy Centre (HESC) was also created and able to provide support for policy development and decision-making in higher education. Under ESDP III, a renewed emphasis was put on the relevance of academic programs. The Convergence Plan adopted in 2008/2009 provided further guidance when establishing the 70% and 30% placement objective for sciences & technology (S&T) and social/human sciences (SHS). Currently annual intake in the science and technology to social/human sciences has reached 58% and 42% respectively. A major effort was made to equip universities with state of the art ICT to support both teaching and administrative processes. A Tele-Conference Center has been established at the school of pharmacy by MOE and has begun to provide service. It provides live transmission and two way communications and educates around 200 students at the post-graduate level in technology subject areas. The old universities have developed and harmonized their capacity to procure the needed materials and equipment. Endowments have been made to equip all 13 new Universities with laboratory facilities, apparatus, chemicals and reference books for different subject areas with special consideration for science and technology fields. Universities have developed new curriculum guidelines in practically all disciplines and are now implementing them. They are also working on establishing quality systems. As a tool for institutional reform, BPR has been used to achieve institutional transformation in all universities while the transformation process is ongoing. Main challenges • Despite major expansion, access to higher education remains relatively limited (GER of 5,3% in 2008/2009), and admission targets have not been met. • Post-graduate admissions remain far below the target figures. This puts serious constraints on the system in terms of local staff availability because of the rapid system expansion. • The share of female academics remains far below the target, and would require serious efforts to encourage female participation both at the under-graduate postgraduate level. • Open and distance education remain hardly developed, Ethiopian Open University has not been created. • Undergraduate enrolments evolve more rapidly than qualified teachers putting serious constraints on working conditions and the quality of education. • Shortages of qualified Staff both in public and private sectors particularly pronounced in science and technology areas where enrolments are expected to increase rapidly. • Academic staff is very young, and only a small number has a PhD. • There are constraints to tap resources through the internet and sharing of experiences. • The private institutions relevance and quality is not in line with the expectancy of the government • There is no strong Technology Transfer system which is based on the need of the industry. • Higher Education Management and Leadership system is not at the required level. • The number of female teachers is limited 63
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The Federal Democratic Republic of
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The Federal Democratic Republic of
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Table of contents Acknowledgements
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MDG MLC MOE MOFED MOU MRE MSE NER N
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Education Sector Development Progra
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Education Sector Development Program - VLIR-UOS

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