AAU’s autonomy will pave way to delivery of quality education 

Addis Ababa, February 5, 2024 (FBC) – The successful implementation of the autonomy at the Addis Ababa University will pave the way to the delivery of quality of education and contribute towards comprehensive societal transformations, Addis Ababa University Interim President Samuel Kifle said.

Dialogue on Innovative Higher Education Strategies (DIES) International Dean’s Course (IDC) on Africa part III focused on strategic and practical issues in Higher Education Management opened in Addis Ababa today.

Opening the five-day program, Samuel said the course has multiple opportunities in Ethiopia’s higher education system in general and Addis Ababa University in particular.

It is beyond training, he said, adding it has created many more opportunities for collaboration among institutions and nations.

Despite the challenges, Ethiopia has not only successfully expanded the education sector but also embarked on major reform initiatives such as governance reform of creating autonomous universities, and introducing exit exam as all of them guided by a clear roadmap of 2030, it was indicated.

Addis Ababa University, the nation’s oldest and Flagship University has just recently been reorganized as an autonomous university with the council of ministers.

A successful implementation of autonomy at the Addis Ababa University will pave the way to the creation of opportunities to the delivery of quality of education and contribute towards comprehensive societal transformations through community engagement and services, he affirmed.

For the president, training in IDC will give Addis Ababa University further opportunity to learn from African brothers and best practices in Universities in Germany.

“We will also share our challenges, experiences and success stories to all our universities in Ethiopia and in our universities in Africa.”

The “Dialogue on Innovative Higher Education Strategies“ (DIES) program is jointly coordinated by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) and funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Recalling that Ethiopia and Germany have enjoyed over 120 years of formal diplomatic relationships and over 500 years of people-to-people connection, he praised the contribution of Germany in Ethiopia’s higher education system.

The path the two nations took over the last decades has been immense and there is strong institutional collaboration among universities in Germany and in Ethiopia including the Addis Ababa University.

Professor Peter Mayer from Osnabruck University of Applied Science said autonomy is a trend in so many countries around the world.

Stressing that there are many critical decisions to be taken at the university level, he said it is better to delegate the authority to take decisions to the level of the university even may be to the level of the faculty.

DIES offers a bundle of measures – training courses, dialogue events, projects and partnerships – that foster professionalization of institutional management processes, alignment of education to international quality standards and strengthening of research capacities