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Higher Education Systems and Institutions, Ethiopia.

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DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-9553-1_449-1

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H

Higher Education Systems earner is coffee. It is the second biggest producer

and Institutions, Ethiopia of maize in Africa. In terms of natural resources, it
is endowed with copper, petroleum, gold, natural
Fred Kofi Boateng gas, platinum, potash, and hydropower.
School of Education and Leadership, College of The education system is composed of 3 years
Education, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana of preprimary education, 2 cycles of 8 years of
primary education, 2 cycles of 4 years of second-
ary education, and 3–7 years of higher education.
Synonyms There are other alternative educational routes such
as Alternative Basic Education (ABE), Technical
Higher education; Management; Governance; Vocational Education and Training (TVET), and
Market; Reforms Integrated Functional Adult Education (IFAE).
Literacy rates for 15–24 years, 15 years and
older, and 65 years and older are 54.98%, 39%,
Introduction and 13.68%, respectively. Compulsory education
lasts for 8 years from age 7 to age 14. From
Located in the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia is bor- primary to higher education, the academic year
dered by Eritrea in the north, Djibouti in the begins in September and ends in July. The primary
northeast, Somalia in the east, Sudan in the west, to secondary school transition rate is 91.44% (UIS
and Kenya in the south. Politically, Ethiopia 2019). Ethiopia ranks 173 out of 189 countries
operates a federal parliamentary republic, with and territories in the United Nations Development
nine regional states and with the government’s Programme (UNDP) human development index.
official name as the Federal Democratic Republic
of Ethiopia (FDRE). It is the second most popu-
lous nation in Africa with a population of Higher Education
104, 957,000 people. Amharic is the official lan-
guage in the multilingual nation of 90 different History
languages or dialects. Close to two millennia of Ethiopian (higher) edu-
The gross domestic product (GDP) in purchas- cation, the origin is connected to and influenced
ing power parity (PPP) is $199 billion with the by the Orthodox Church (Saint 2004; Wagaw
GDP per capita being $1899. Ethiopian economy 1990). The very first higher education institutions
is agrarian with agricultural commodities domi- (HEIs), established in the pre-modern Ethiopia,
nating its exports. The largest foreign exchange were religious and monastic institutions (Lulat
© Springer Nature B.V. 2020
J. C. Shin, P. Teixeira (eds.), Encyclopedia of International Higher Education Systems and Institutions,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9553-1_449-1
2 Higher Education Systems and Institutions, Ethiopia

2005). In the fifth century, the Yared Music System Governance

School was formed to train qualified priests in The reforms of the higher education sector were
the religious music and dance that characterized ushered with the initiation of the Education and
their faith (Bishaw and Melesse 2017). Higher Training Policy (ETP) aligned with the national
education in the modern Ethiopian era began in growth and poverty reduction strategy (Yizengaw
the mid-twentieth century. In July 1950, the 2003). This policy was created to infuse quality,
Emperor Haile Selassie solicited for the help of access, relevance, and equity in the Ethiopian
Jesuit Canadian teachers in establishing a college, higher education system (FDRE 1994). It was
the University College of Addis Ababa [now the rostrum for subsequent policies and initiatives.
Addis Ababa University (AAU)]. The college The first, Education Sector Development Program
was established to prepare students for “further (EDSP), which is in its fifth phase of implemen-
overseas study or vocational certificate education” tation (ESDP V), is geared toward using educa-
(Lulat 2005, p. 268). Lulat (2005) further states tion tools in transforming Ethiopia as a middle-
that uniquely the college was not directly affili- income country. Second, two ministerial policies,
ated with any foreign university for fear of losing Teacher Education System Overhaul (TESO) and
its autonomy and the exorbitance of being an Higher Education System Overhaul (HESO), led
affiliated college. In the quest to expand the higher to the promulgation of the Higher Education Act
sector to address access and manpower deficits, in 2003 (Eshete 2008). Third, the Higher Educa-
six specialized technical colleges had been tion Proclamation (HEP) (351/2003) was issued
established in the 1970s by the imperial regime to regulate the expanding higher education system
(Girma 1967) in addition to AAU and Haramaya in order to produce high-quality and skilled man-
University established in 1953. Organizationally power in line with FDRE’s development needs; to
the HEIs were more American compared to the direct research to problem solving and adequate
HEIs in the former British East African colonies. harnessing of Ethiopian resources, relevance, aca-
After ousting the imperial regime in 1974, the demic freedom, and accountability; and to high-
Derg regime expanded the higher education sys- light the contribution of private HEIs to Ethiopia’s
tems but steered HEIs based on communist/ education (Bishaw and Melesse 2017). The 2003
Marxist-Leninist governance. “Government inter- HEP was modified in 2009 (No. 650/2009).
vention in university affairs expanded including The Higher Education Relevance and Quality
security surveillance, repression of dissent, man- Agency (HERQA) and the Higher Education
dated courses of Marxism-Leninism, prohibition Strategy Center (HESC) were established under
of students’ organization, appointment of senior the Proclamation. The HERQA and the HESC are
university officers and control of academic pro- accountable to the Federal Ministry of Education
motion” (Bishaw and Melesse 2017, p. 33). The (FMOE). The HESC is in charge of vision formu-
regime that engineered the demise of the Derg in lation and strategy for the Ethiopian higher edu-
1991 introduced market reforms in the (higher) cation system. It is mandated by law to coordinate
educational system (discussed in subsequent sec- together with the FMOE and its agencies the
tions). Nevertheless by the end of the twentieth Ethiopian National Qualifications Framework
century, the Ethiopian higher education system (ENQF) process and implementation. The
had been characterized by regimented manage- HERQA is responsible for accreditation,
ment, conservative intellectual orientation, lim- reaccreditation, and program and institutional
ited autonomy, very few academic staff with quality audits of HEIs. It accredits private HEIs
doctorates, declining educational quality, weak but only conducts an institutional program audits
research output, and loose connection with the for public institutions. In its institutional and pro-
global higher education currents (Bishaw 2006; gram quality audits, HERQA focuses on ten areas
Saint 2004). anchored on four main areas of quality assurance:
context, input, process, and outcome (Adamu and
Adamu 2012). In 2010 the HERQA was
Higher Education Systems and Institutions, Ethiopia 3

subsumed under the Education and Training Awassa Adventist College, People to People Col-
Quality Assurance Agency (ETQAA), which lege, and Unity College (now Unity University)
was formed to have a broad quality assurance were set up. Hitherto, private HEIs were pro-
mandate on all educational institutions. HERQA hibited from existence (Lulat 2005). Ethiopian
was made to revert to its old mandate of specifi- HEIs have considerably expanded from the
cally assuring the quality of Ethiopian HEIs (Pinar 1990s (Saint 2004; Tamrat 2017; Teferra 2005).
2013). There are over 130 public universities, over 70 pri-
With the ESDP V and the new Ethiopian Edu- vate HEIs (Nega 2012) which have expanded
cation Roadmap (2018–2030), the government from 1 in 1990 C.E. (Tamrat 2003) and had
plans to institutionally differentiate HEIs based on grown by 40% between 1999/2000 and 2001/
program offerings, functional focus, institutional 2002 (World Bank 2003), 36 colleges of teacher
status, student composition, etc. Concerning education that offer diploma program (Aweke
TVET, the National TVET Strategy and the et al. 2017), and other colleges operating under
National TVET Qualifications Framework were different ministries: the Ministry of National
developed in 2006 to enhance the recognition, Defense and the Ministry of Capacity Building
quality, and relevance of TVET (FMOE 2006a, b). (Nega 2012).
In terms of enrollment, public universities
Institutional Management account for 87% of undergraduate enrollment
Before the HEP, the Ethiopian government and 94.4% of postgraduate enrollment with an
appointed university Presidents and Vice Presi- improvement in the participation rate from 4% in
dent. According to the HEP (2009), boards are 1999 to 9% in 2014/2015. Private HEIs account
the highest governing body in public HEIs with for 13% of the total enrollment constituting
the highest academic body being the Senate. The 110, 000 students with a marginal improvement
seven member boards are accountable to the in undergraduate enrollment from 14% in 1999 to
MOE, and each chair and three other members about 15.4% in 2014/2015. Female students
are appointed by the Minister. The rest are accounted for 34.7% of the total undergraduate
appointed by the Minister based on the university enrollment and 33.1% and 43.7% of public HEIs
President’s nomination. The university President and private HEIs enrollment, respectively (Nega
is appointed by the Minister based on the board’s 2017). The statistics concerning graduates from
nomination (Melu 2016). The Presidents are undergraduate and graduate programs for the
assisted by Vice Presidents in the academic run- 2010/2011 academic year was 81,598, of which
ning of the HEIs. Private HEIs are led by Presi- 11,053 (14%) graduated from private HEIs. Mas-
dents and assisted by Executive Vice Presidents ter’s enrollment in public HEIs increased from
but are immune from governmental appointments. 7211 in 2007/2008 to 27,643 in 2013/2014. Doc-
Unlike public universities, “the majority of Ethi- torate enrollment in programs increased from
opian private HEIs is for-profit institutions owned 258 in 2007/2008 to 3169 in 2013/2014.
as Private Limited Companies (PLC)” (Tamrat The student-teacher ratio in 2014 for students
and Teferra 2019, p. 4); however, the FMOE enrolled in regular classes is 1:16 and 1:23 when
monitors their governance through HERQA. students of regular and non-regular classes were
considered. The policy clearly articulates the
Higher Education Institutions (Public HEIs 70:30 undergraduate professional mix in favor of
Vs. Private HEIs) science and technology over humanities and
Public HE (as indicated earlier in the “History” social sciences (FMOE 2008). Relative to the
section) predate the establishment of private recommended staff qualification mix of HEI aca-
HEIs. The successor of the Derg government, demic staff ratio of 0:70:30 Bachelor/Master’s/
following the encouragement of institutions like PhD, 27:58:15 ratio has been achieved. However
the World Bank in the 1990s, liberalized the only AAU is able to meet this requirement
higher education sector by permitting the estab- (Kebede et al. 2011; Semela 2011a, b cited in
lishment of private HEIs. Institutions such as the Van Deuren et al. 2016). In 2013/2014,
4 Higher Education Systems and Institutions, Ethiopia

19 universities provided postgraduate training of leased buildings in Addis Ababa, shortage of

with 48% of them enrolled in AAU (Akalu 2016). high-quality human resources, and the increasing
A significant role Ethiopian HEIs have been focus on profit motive by most of them at the
playing is the offering of distance education pro- expense of quality (Tamrat 2008; Teferra 2005)
grams. Both private HEIs such as Alpha,
St. Mary’s Unity, Admas, etc. and public HEIs Financing
such as Bahir Dar University, Mekelle University, The FMOE in Addis Ababa oversees the higher
Jimma University, and AAU are instrumental in education system of Ethiopia. Its financial over-
the expansion of distance education courses in sight is however limited to public HEIs. In 2014/
diploma and degree programs. More so public 2015, the educational expenditure was 37.1% of
universities such as AAU, Gondar, and Jimma the national budget, and higher education’s share
have initiated modular graduate programs (Abiy of the recurrent and capital budget was 48%
2005; Bishaw and Melesse 2017). Tamrat and (FMOE 2015). One of the facets of the higher
Teferra (2019) nonetheless underscore not only education reforms was the introduction of cost
the risks private HEIs face but also the arbitrary sharing. This policy was implemented via “a grad-
governmental treatment of private HEIs in Ethio- uate tax” where graduates were required to pay at
pia. The government banned private HEIs from least 10% of their income as tax to the Ethiopian
undertaking teacher education programs in 2010 government (Ayalew 2013; Molla 2014). How-
[(and law programs (Tamrat and Levy 2017)] ever students foot 15% of tuition fees, while the
without any prior warnings or transitional government pays the rest. The implication of the
arrangements, and the temporal ban of distance cost sharing policy was that HEIs had to be inno-
education programs in 2012 utterly affected the vative to internally generate their own income.
private HEIs. The governmental actions contra- Internally generated income sources from HEIs
vened decisions on program quality based on reg- are from consultancy, contract research, short
ulatory frameworks. The two programs are major courses, etc. constituting 20% of the cost. The
sources of revenue for such institutions, and as Ethiopian system is planning to implement a
such the restrictive regulation on them affects the performance-based funding formula based on
survival and capacity of private HEIs. block grants to the public HEIs. As seen in
In addition to the benefits public HEIs offer Table 1, the government does not fund private
such as access, private HEIs offer courses and HEIs. The latter relies heavily on tuition fees as
programs that create employment opportunities sources of funding.
such as business administration, computer stud-
ies, information technology (IT), health care, and
teacher education. Hence, albeit most of them are Challenges/Issues in Ethiopian Higher
non-elite HEIs, they are a “mix of demand- Education
absorbing and more effective job-market ori-
ented” (Tamrat and Levy 2017, p. 20). In addition to financing, the higher education sys-
Out of the 70 private HEIs, only 4 (Unity, tem is fraught with challenges and issues border-
St. Mary’s, Admas, Rift Valley universities) are ing on quality. Quality is constrained by certain
fully fledged universities (Tamrat and Teferra factors: disparity between student enrollment and
2019). Unity University was the first private HEI teaching staff evident in the student teacher ratio
to become a fully fledged university. Nega (2012) from 1:8 in 1995 and 1:15 in 2011 (Reisberg and
asserts the disparity in the public-private HEI Rumbley 2011) to 1:16 in 2014; inadequate qual-
divide in terms of regulation and accreditation, ified staff to fill vacant positions in the HEIs; and
admissions, student numbers, financing, and infrastructure deficit characterized by limited lec-
profit motive. ture rooms, computer laboratories, libraries and
Other challenges faced by private HEIs are their collections, generators to serve power needs
transient and unstable regulations characterized of the HEIs during erratic power cut periods, and
by red tape and operational rigidities, high cost so forth (Nega 2012; Reisberg and Rumbley 2011;
Higher Education Systems and Institutions, Ethiopia 5

Higher Education Systems and Institutions, Ethiopia, Table 1 Issues/challenges underlying the public-private
divide
Public HEIs Private HEIs
Established by regulation Have to pass through rigorous accreditation processes by HERQA
Are not subject to accreditation Are not allowed to operate without licenses
Admission – MOE assigns students Demand absorbing, cater for excess demand from public universities
Best student numbers Compete to admit only a tiny proportion of all students and mostly from low-
performing applicants, challenge to get best students
Fully funded by government No government funding or subsidy in the form of student loans and student or
including research funding institutional grants
Not-for-profit making For-profit and non-profit. Their survival heavily depends on students’ tuition
fees
Source: (Nega 2017)

Semela 2011a, b). More so, quality constraints are Cross-References

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