Ensuring the Quality of Ethiopian Higher Education in the Face of the Challenges of the 21st Century

Abstract

Cognizant of the decisive role education plays to speed up the overall socio-economic progress of the country, the government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia has given a high priority to education in its strategy of capacity building and economic development. Since the issuance of the Education and Training Policy, efforts have been made to improve higher education in quality and accessibility. Undergraduate and postgraduate programmes have been strengthened and expanded. Student enrolment has increased in the nation as a result of the opening of four new government universities in various regional states. These activities and plans of actions by themselves should be seen optimistically. More important, however, is the contents‟ package. The contents and the nature of higher education curricula should be redefined within the context of the emerging local and global political, economic and social factors. It seems that at the dawn of the 21st century, more than ever before, the contemporary world history is being dramatically affected by demographic pressure, scientific and technological progress. This dramatic upheaval of resultant factors from all angles thus calls for Ethiopian educators to think about their higher education quality seriously. The aim of this paper is to provoke thinking on this admittedly complex area - ensuring quality of higher education curricula to meet the needs of the Ethiopian generation, contemporary, or beyond. By doing so, it might contribute to the enrichment of higher Education policies and capacity building programmes, which have been put in place by the Federal Government of Ethiopia. Drawing data from both primary and secondary sources, informed attempts are made to envisage the colour Ethiopian higher education have had in the century, especially the curricula. This in turn is believed to raise the awareness of the concerned parties to react in time.