The Ethiopian experience: a higher education system in context

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The Ethiopian experience a higher education
system in context

• Prof Kate Ashcroft

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What I will cover

• The context
• What sort of place is Ethiopia?
• What education (especially HE) is offered?
• The 13 new Higher Education Institution Study
• Curriculum and pedagogic issues what does the
  country need?
• Organizational and qualifications structures
  what is realistic and desirable?
• Resourcing issues what can the country afford?

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What sort of place is Ethiopia

• Ethiopia is a happy country
• Ethiopians are a strikingly beautiful people
• People are friendly and unthreatening and someone
  is always willing to go out of their way to help
  you
• People are generally honest and violent crime is
  rare

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The Ethiopians are a cultured people

• The Ethiopian monarchy was 3000 years old
• The Royal family is believed to be descended from
  the Queen of Sheba and Solomon
• Ethiopia was never colonized
• It still uses the Gregorian Calendar, so is about
  to celebrate the millennium
• Ethiopia has its own way of telling the time
• The calendar has 13 months

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Ethiopian Christianity is a unique religion

• The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is one of the
  oldest in the world it was established in 300 AD
• It has books in its bible such as the Book of
  Enoch
• It is a schism of a schism of a schism
• Its practices have evolved from ancient Judaism
• Ethiopias Jewish community is one of the oldest
  in the world. Most emigrated en mass to Israel in
  the 1970s
• Ethiopias religions live in harmony with each
  other

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Every day living is enjoyable for most people

• The food is good and varied in most places
• There are little shops and businesses everywhere
• There are comfortable, middle class homes
• BUT
• There are many homeless and beggars too poverty
  is real

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Ethiopia has varied wildlife and a wonderful
climate

• A beautiful country, endlessly interesting
• More species of bird than any African country
  except South Africa
• A wide variety of wildlife in remote areas

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Ethiopias countryside is stunningly beautiful

• Varied mountains mostly, but green plains,
  deserts and the Rift Valley
• The climate is pleasant in most of the country
  for most of the year with temperatures averaging
  around 70 degrees
• Elsewhere, climates vary from a little chilly to
  steamy hot
• Plenty of water in most places, but not harvested

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But, Ethiopia remains one of the poorest
countries Why?

• Terms of trade and treaties made in the past
• Lack of colonization and outside influences
• Authoritarian history
• Border disputes
• Role of the church
• Harmful traditional practices and beliefs
• A very conservative and traditional society, with
  strong authoritarian tendencies
• A very bureaucratic country
• High birth rate
• Land tenure

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Some statistics

• The average age at death is 46
• HIV AIDS rate 7.3 (Millennium Aids Campaign
  Ethiopia prepared FHAPCO). Teachers are one of
  two high risk groups for HIV/AIDs supply less
  than numbers dying.
• Most primary teachers have only one year of
  training after grade 10 17 year olds teach class
  of over 100.
• Worst in the world for road traffic accidents
• Female genital mutilation and abduction are
  illegal, but common
• Forced early marriage the average age of full
  marriage (sexual) is 12 and a half and 11 is
  common

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Some more statistics

• The 3rd poorest country in the world
• 85 of the population live in the countryside
• Most have no access to sanitation or running
  water, even in the towns
• The average person lives on considerably less
  than 50p a day
• Around 50 of the population is Christian, 40
  Muslim and 10 animist
• There are 86 languages spoken in Ethiopia

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BUT there are reasons to be cheerful

• Ethiopia as a country is determined to modernise
  (and if anything a little too ambitious)
• ICT is a priority The plan is to have 12,000
  regional hubs
• The big push is quality of teaching and numbers
  in education at all levels, starting with primary
• There are thriving towns and modern and
  traditional businesses
• There is little religious tension

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More reasons to be cheerful

• More primary education for girls means later
  marriage and fewer children
• Power has been devolved from the centre to local
  authorities
• There have been (imperfect) general elections
• The war with Eritrea has not been active for 8
  years
• Infrastructure development (roads, water and ICT
  especially) is proceeding fast
• Very little corruption

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Ethiopia using education to develop

• Education from 1996/7 to 2004/5
• 54.7 more primary schools, from 10,394 to 16,563
  
• 85 of the new schools are in rural areas.
• Primary Enrolment Rate grew from 34.7, to in
  79.8 (71.5 for girls and 88 for boys).
• 53.5 more secondary schools from 369 to 690 in
• Enrolment Rate grew from 8.4 to 27 girls from
  7 to 19.6.
• Public technical/vocational training colleges
  grew from 17 before 1994 to 199

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My role

• Volunteer for two and a half years, paid on a
  local salary
• Higher education management advisor to the
  Minister of Education and Vice Minister for HE
• Acting Director of the Higher Education Strategy
  Centre (a mixture of HEFCE and HEPI)

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What I did

• Chaired a National Committee of Enquiry into
  Governance, Leadership and Management in HE
• Developed a formula to distribute a block grant
  to universities
• Studied what should be the partnership between
  the public and private sector HEIs
• Researched what the 13 new HEIs to be opened in
  the country should do
• I will some aspects of cover the 13 new HEIs Study

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Higher Education is expanding very rapidly

• From 1996/7 to 2004/5 HE grew from one university
  to 9.
• Student numbers grew from 35,000 to 187,500 in
  2004/5
• 13 new HEIs are to be opened in the next couple
  of years
• Numbers in existing HEIs are to double by 2009

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The context for Higher Education is changing very
rapidly

• New HE Proclamation
• More autonomy
• More independent Boards
• Move from line budgets to block grant
• Student and staff rights
• A quality assurance agency
• Pedagogic support units
• The Higher Education Strategy Centre

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What the 13 new HEI study looked at

• Curriculum and pedagogic issues what does the
  country need?
• Organizational and qualifications structures
  what is realistic and desirable?
• Resourcing issues what can the country afford?

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Methodology

• An extensive literature review
• Analysis of various government policies and
  strategies
• 50 interviews with a range of representatives of
  ministries, donor organizations, NGOs and
  employers
• Regional workshops with representatives from
  Education, Health, Capacity Building, and Finance
  and Economic Development Bureaus, representatives
  of local business or industry, heads of TVET
  colleges, heads of a secondary school and
  representatives from HEIs in each region
• Studies of relevance to the research by
  contracted researchers each focused on a
  particular region or sub regions
• Visits by research assistants to four regions

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Is the Ethiopian HE a system?

• If a higher education system is defined as
• a set of interrelated institutions
• each with its own function within the system,
• each with its own goals,
• each of which makes a particular contribution to
  the functioning of the country
• Ethiopia has a collection of institutions rather
• than a system.

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Recommendations New forms of HEI

• Not all the new HEIs can or should be university
• colleges
• Universities (Adama)
• University colleges (Dire Dawa and Dilla)
  Affiliated higher education colleges (the rest)
• - with a close relationship with an existing
  university
• - with close regional ties
• - offering 12 1 and 12 2 only
• Need for a more developed qualifications
  framework

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The Present Qualification Pyramid in Ethiopia
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Recommendations A New Qualifications Framework

• 12 1 Higher Education Certificate
• 122 Associate Degree
• 12 3 Bachelors Degree
• Bachelors 1 Post Graduate Certificate
• Bachelors 2 MA/MBA/MSc
• Bachelors 3 MPhil
• PhD

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Recommendations Pedagogic issues

• All courses should include
• Entrepreneurialism
• Work focus and problem solving
• HIV/AIDS issues
• Inclusivity issues
• Implies
• Less curriculum
• New methods of staff development
• Focus on what Ethiopia needs

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Recommendations New sources of funding

• Higher rates of graduate tax
• Charges for services such as food and lodging
  (perhaps supported by food vouchers for the
  poorest)
• Local recruitment (to save on lodging provision)
• Admitting some fee-paying students over and above
  those allocated by Government.

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Recommendations Staffing

• Focusing mainly on one and two year higher
  education qualifications and a limited number of
  programs
• Paying postgraduate degree holders as master
  instructors to design the programs, give the
  lead lectures, do lesson plans for seminars and
  second mark a proportion of assignments
• Employing graduate assistants to undertake
  seminars and first marking of assignments
• (The existing universities) expanding post
  graduate training for instructors rapidly and
  making it relevant for Ethiopias new HEIs
• Less PG study abroad

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Recommendations ICT

• ICT in distance learning where there is demand,
  in mixed media mode in cooperation with each
  other and international HEIs
• In administration systems for procurement and
  supplies asset monitoring transport estates
  management finance, registry human resource
  management libraries committee records etc
• All new HEIs have broadband quality ICT in all
  classrooms instructor offices administrative
  offices classrooms and libraries and the
  hardware to make these functional.

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More on the 13 new HEI project and the other
studies
www.higher.edu.et