We are pleased to send you the first newsletter of the FEF project « Supporting the reform of university governance in Ethiopia, 2024 – 2026 », financed by the French Ministry for European and International Affairs! The project has been launched sucessfully on November 8, 2024, the date of the first Steering Committee. The project partners include: From Ethiopia: Ministry of Education of Ethiopia and 8 public universities (University of Addis Abeba, University of Bahar Dar, Gondar University, Jimma University, Harayama University, Arba Minch University, Hawassa University, Mekelle University). From France: French Embassy, France Éducation international, France Universités (French University Presidents association), HCERES (High Council for Evaluation of Research and Higher Education), MESR (French Ministry of Higher Education and Research). | | The overall objective of the project is to support the reform of Ethiopian universities aimed at their autonomy; a reform initiated by the Prime Minister. 8 Ethiopian universities were selected by the supervisory authority to implement the reform within 2 years. All Ethiopian universities must be autonomous within 5 years. The project activities will include the experience sharing between Ethiopian and French partners and structured around 3 components: - The Component 1 aims to support the Ministry of Education in defining its policy and tools to further steer the reform implementation.
- The Component 2 targets to reinforce the experience of pilot universities in operational management of the autonomy, whether it relates to organisational, financial, human ressources or academic aspects.
- The Component 3 focuses on the common discussion of the reform results by different local stakeholders, on both central level (ministry and national agencies) and university level (pilot and other universities).
So far, the activities are going on well, with the following ones having been implemented: - Activity 3.1: the first mission for the Ethiopian university delegates has taken place in Toulouse for the EAIE conference in September 2024.
- Activity 1.2: two experts from the French High Council for Evaluation of Research and Higher Education and two experts from FEI went on a mission in Addis Ababa, December 2024, to share experience on the role of quality assurance for university autonomy.
The following activities have just been finished: - Activity 1.1.2: the study visit of 7 representatives from the Ethiopian Ministry of Education and Addis-Abeba University to France for experience sharing on the role of the ministry in steering the university autonomy reform. The visit will take place on Feb. 3d to 6th , 2025.
The following activities are under preparation: - Activities 2.1.1&2.2: four experts from France Universités and AMUE (French national agency for mutualisation of universities) to Ethiopia to conduct workshops with pilot universities on two aspects of the university autonomy: 1) organizational autonomy; 2) financial autonomy. The workshops are tentatively scheduled on April 1st to 4th, 2025.
| | Highlights on past Activities | | EAIE Conference 2024 in Toulouse, France One of the essential European/international meetings in the field of higher education is the annual higher education fair of the European Association for International Education, https://www.eaie.org. It was held this year in France (second time in the history of the fair since 1987), in the city of Toulouse. Around 7,300 participants attended the fair, which hosted more than 200 stands. 240 sessions and activities were held on topics related to internationalization and mobility in higher education. As part of the Component 3, the Ethiopian delegation attended the fair, composed of representatives of the Ministry of Education of Ethiopia (Dr. Solomon Abrha GEBREKIRSTOS, CEO Governance and Infrastructure, Dr. Eba Mijena NEGERO, CEO Academic affairs, Dr Zelalem Assefa AZENE, CEO ICT and Digital Education), and presidents of pilot universities on the project (Dr. Jemal Yousuf HASSEN, President Haramaya University, Dr. Asrat Astedeweyn ANDARGIE, President Gondar university, Dr. Mengesha Ayene EJIGU, President Bahirdar University, Dr. Lemmi Guta ENYADANE, President Adama Science and Technology, and Dr Jemal Abafita ABABULGU, President Jimma university). A working meeting was held between the Ethiopian delegation and representative of France Éducation international, Mrs. Fatou Esteoule, Head of Higher Education Unit at Departement for Cooperation in Education, and Mrs. Elizaveta Bydanova, head of project at the same unit. The meeting enabled to discuss the implementation of the university autonomy reform in Ethiopia by now and forsee how the French expertise could support this university governance reform. The EAIE Conférence was preceded by the Africa – France day, organized by the city of Toulouse and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Organized in the premises of Toulouse Business School, it brought together 107 representatives from ministries of education and selected universities from 17 African countries French diplomatic missions in those countries. The delegation of Ethiopia also took part in it. | | Mission of the French High Council for Evaluation of Research and Higher Education to Ethiopia On December 8th to 13th, 2024, a mission to Addis-Abeba was performed by 2 experts from HCERES, Mr. Amaël BROUSTET, Scienfic Advisor of Hcéres, and Mr. Jean-Pierre GESSON, former president of University of Poitier & expert of Hcéres, and 2 experts from FEI, Mrs. Fatou Esteoule, Head of Higher Education Unit at Departement for Cooperation in Education, and Mrs. Elizaveta Bydanova, head of project at the same unit. The mission objective was twofold: 1) as a first mission of the project, its focus was to make a fact-funding analysis of the implementation of university autonomy in Ethiopia and the role of evaluation agency in supporting it; 2) share experience from France on the evaluation practices of higher education institutions. The mission agenda was composed of meetings with the Ministry of Education, 2 universities (Addis-Abeba university and Adama Science and Technology university), and the ETA (Education and Training Agency, a new agency for evaluation of higher education created in 2022). The experts would like to thank the French Embassy in Ethiopia, who largely supported the mission organization, and all Ethiopian partners for their warm welcome and discussions. | | Learn more on University autonomy | | To enrich the knowledge of all project partners on the university autonomy, covering both theoretical perspective and bringing evidence on practical implementation of it in different regions and countries worldwide, we created a special rubric in our Information Letter indicating bibliographical references on the matter. We would like to thank the LIRE department of FEI for compiling those references to our demand, specifically for this project. You can access the document here. | | Follow us on social media | | Publisher: France Éducation international FEI Team:
Fatou Esteoule, Head of Higher Education Unit at Department for Cooperation in Education (HEU DCE);
Elizaveta Bydanova, Project Manager at HEU DCE;
Milly Zongo, Project Administration and Management Officer at HEU DCE. bydanova@france-education-inernational.fr
Photos: France Éducation international, Adobe stock
February 2025
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