Academic literature on the topic 'Addis Ababa University. Faculty of Education'

Aim/Purpose: This study was conducted to examine the rate of delay, explanatory causes, and coping strategies of PhD candidates at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia’s premier university, over the last ten years. Background: Delayed graduation is a common theme in doctoral education around the world. It continues to draw the concern of governments, universities, and the candidates themselves, calling for different forms of intervention. Addressing these challenges is key to resolving the many obstacles into doctoral education. Methodology: Ten-year archival data consisting of 1,711 PhD students and in-depth interviews with ten PhD candidates were used as data-generation tools. The data collection focused on progression patterns, reasons for study delays, and the coping mechanisms used by doctoral students when they face challenges. While the candidates were interviewed to narrate their lived experience pertinent to the objectives of the study, the archival data regarding the PhD students were collected from the Registrar Office of the University under study. Contribution: Amid an ongoing global debate about best practices in doctoral education, the research on study delays contributes not only to filling the existing empirical gap in the area but also in identifying factors, for example, related to financial matters, family commitment, and student-supervisor rapport, that help address the challenges faced and improving the provision of doctoral education. Findings: The findings of this study revealed that the cumulative average completion time for a PhD study was 6.19 years— over two years more than the four years given as the optimum duration for completing a PhD program. The institutional pattern of delays over the last ten years indicates that doctoral students are requiring more and more years to complete their PhDs. The study further revealed that completing a PhD in time is a process that can be influenced by many interacting factors, which include student commitment and preparation, favourable academic and research environment, and positive student-supervisor rapport. Recommendations for Practitioners: It is important for practitioners and higher education institutions to find ways to improve the on-time completion of doctoral programmes in order to minimise the continued financial, emotional, and opportunity costs the higher education sector is currently incurring. Recommendation for Researchers: The fact that this study was limited to a single institution by itself warrants more studies about time-to-degree in PhD programs and causes for study delays as well as studies about successful interventions in doctoral education. Future research should particularly explore the nature of the advisor/advisee relationship and other critical factors that appear to have a significant role in addressing the challenges of study delay. Impact on Society: The expansion of PhD programmes is an encouraging development in Ethiopia. The findings of this study may help improve completion rates of doctoral students and reduce program duration, which would have significant implication to minimise the ensuing financial, emotional, and opportunity costs involved at individual, national, and institutional levels. Future Research: Given the growing number of universities in Ethiopia and their possible diversity, PhD students’ profiles, backgrounds, and expectations, more research is needed to examine how this diversity may impact doctoral students’ progression and persistence.

Purpose Ethiopia is home to a growing population of more than 100 million people. Healthcare in the region functions with a shortage of oncologists. Pharmacists as well as other healthcare providers can assist with expanding patient access to cancer care. A pilot project was proposed to provide education, determine areas to expand pharmacy services in oncology, and recommend interventions at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital and Addis Ababa University. Methods A layered learning practice model comprising of a clinical pharmacist, a post-graduate year two oncology pharmacy resident, and two fourth-year student pharmacists was constructed for the experience. Through collaboration with the College of Pharmacy at Addis Ababa University, an international experience was developed to provide education and advance pharmacy practice at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital. Results Based on findings from a needs assessment, the participants collaborated with key stakeholders to develop practices and procedures for the implementation of high-dose methotrexate and for comprehensive chemotherapy order review. In addition, 17 didactic lectures were provided to nine students enrolled in the Master of Pharmacy in Pharmacy Practice at the College of Pharmacy at Addis Ababa University. Conclusion This experience provided educational and clinical impact using a layered learning practice model, consisting of a clinical pharmacist, pharmacy resident, and pharmacy students in an international setting. There is significant potential for clinical pharmacy to positively impact patient care in the oncology setting in Ethiopia. Future initiatives for advancement include the safe handling of hazardous agents, additional therapeutic drug monitoring, and outpatient oncology pharmacist practice.

The remarkable yet untold story of the straggles to democratize African political systems is that they owe much of their recent success to the pivotal role played by university student groups and faculty associations as animateurs of protest demonstrations, debates about issues deemed taboo by the state, and as organizers of militant campus movements. At a time when most associational groups were banned or rendered politically impotent by being incorporated into existing state structures in order for them to serve state interests, secondary and university student groups and faculties remained virtually the only sources of pressure and protest against authoritarian regimes on the continent. Thus, from Dakar to Nairobi, from Addis Ababa to Harare, student movements and demonstrations, fought pitched battles with state security personnel and stimulated civilian opposition movements.

The remarkable yet untold story of the straggles to democratize African political systems is that they owe much of their recent success to the pivotal role played by university student groups and faculty associations as animateurs of protest demonstrations, debates about issues deemed taboo by the state, and as organizers of militant campus movements. At a time when most associational groups were banned or rendered politically impotent by being incorporated into existing state structures in order for them to serve state interests, secondary and university student groups and faculties remained virtually the only sources of pressure and protest against authoritarian regimes on the continent. Thus, from Dakar to Nairobi, from Addis Ababa to Harare, student movements and demonstrations, fought pitched battles with state security personnel and stimulated civilian opposition movements.

The evidence base continues to confirm the leveraging effect of reputation in higher education as an important strategic resource influencing a university’s visibility, attractiveness, credibility, impact, and competitive position nationally and internationally. From their expressed interest in their relative national and continental rankings, Ethiopian universities seem to have started sensing the relevance of their reputational position. In this article, we report a mixed methods study of the reputation of Addis Ababa University using data from a random sample (N = 153) of teacher training students of science, social science, and humanities and languages backgrounds under the College of Education and Behavioural Sciences (CEBS). A piloted and validated university reputation scale with open-ended items was used to illicit student opinion. In addition to descriptive statistics, inferential designs that involved correlation and ANOVA procedures were employed. Ratings for global reputation, quality of academic programs, quality of external performance, and emotional engagement are reported. Limitations and directions for further research are indicated.

This study explores the research productivity of Addis Ababa University (AAU) faculty. AAU was established in 1950 and is the oldest modern higher educational institution in Ethiopia. Recently AAU took steps to transform itself to become a pre-eminent African research university. One of the characteristics of a research university is the focus on the amount of research conducted by the institution's faculty. Academic institutions measure research productivity primarily based on published work. The purpose of this study was to analyze the research productivity of AAU faculty, and to examine the differential predictive effects of individual and environmental variables on faculty research productivity. This quantitative study used a theoretical framework and instrument, Faculty at Work. Four hundred questionnaires were distributed to Addis AAU faculty in person and 298 questionnaires were returned resulting in a 74.5% response rate. After exclusion of 12 cases with missing information, 286 cases (71.5% response rate) were analyzed. Most of the respondents were men (M = 92.1%, F = 7.9%). The average age of AAU faculty was 44. A hierarchical multiple regression was used to examine the ability of six sets of independent variables (sociodemographic, career, self-knowledge, social knowledge, behavior, and environmental response) to predict research productivity (publication output). Results indicated that there are productive researchers at AAU, and the theoretical framework explained 67.6% of the variance in publication output.

This study explores the fate of academic freedom and institutional autonomy in higher education of Ethiopia by taking the case of the Addis Ababa University and seeks to understand how these were influenced by different political process (feudalism, socialism and democracy), which the country experienced over a period of half a century (1950-2005). To explore the degree of expression or erosion of academic freedom and institutional autonomy, the focus is on three critical points: (i) the exploration of state-university relationships and how the state viewed the university vis-a.-vis the university's claim for academic freedom and institutional autonomy; (ii) how political regimes affected the erosion or expression of academic freedom in the university (iii) the examination of the impact of political militancy and engagement of university staff and students on the relationship between the university and the state. The study is grounded in my understanding (from philosophical and theoretical analysis) that academic freedom and institutional autonomy are necessary conditions for the proper functioning of the university's teaching, learning, research and public service. I have used a multi-method research approach, which draws on philosophical analysis, historical and ethnographic methods. The entire historical period (1950- 2005) is divided into three distinct cases of political regimes, i.e., feudalism (1950- 1974), socialism (1974-1991) and democratic federalism (1991-2005). The method of analysis combines both historical narratives (for showing the continuities of the historical process) and inter-case comparisons--to compare and contrast the different cases (discontinuities of the historical process). The research suggests that: (1) the relationship between the university and the state has been tangled with conflicting views of the state and the university regarding academic freedom and the idea of a university. Whereas the state viewed the university as part and parcel of its bureaucracy, fully accountable to national goals and ideology, what Ronald Barnett (1997b) called a university of society, the academic community viewed the university as an independent academic institution with a duty that includes a critical role of the state, albeit with accountability not only for knowledge but also for service to society. The latter includes standing for the poor and national development not withstanding the position of the state. In this way, the academic community believed in the idea of a university for society-as distinct from the state's belief, which stressed the accountability role of the university. These divergent views led to hostile state-university relationships. (2) The tangled nature of state-university relationship was more or less true across all regimes-feudalism, socialism and democratic federalism-albeit with some differences in intensity and type of threat to academic freedom. The embryonic VIll cooperative relationship that appeared in the early life history of the university (when expatriate faculty dominated teaching and administration) fractured towards the crisis years of the feudal system when the academic community, especially students, violently turned against the state. The vestiges of academic freedom and institutional autonomy vanished under the Marxist regime that placed the university under complete silence and mere ideological compliance after 1974, the year of the Ethiopian Socialist Revolution. Red terror was used as an instrument for controlling freethinking and dissent. Professors were forced to teach prescribed courses, use Marxist research methods and serve as laborers in seasonal crop harvesting periods and in construction work of resettlement areas. In 1991, civil liberties (academic freedom in the sense of the 'general theory') were guaranteed by the federal democratic state that replaced the socialist regime. Yet, state university relationship remained the same due to ideological differences (the state ideology of ethnic autonomy versus faculty ideology of nation state), mistrust and lack of tolerance. Class disruptions, closure of the university, dismissal of professors, students and administrators characterized the state-university relationship, during this period. This new relationship generated a very unstable and weak university administration, which was often sandwiched between the state's requirement to account to it and the faculty's expectation of self-accountability. Not even elected presidents were able to play mediatory roles in this conflict. Following the higher education reform of 2002, professors and lecturers claimed they had lost many of their freedoms, mainly: (i) the freedom to select their future colleagues; (ii) the freedom to select their students; (iii) the freedom to participate in university legislative process; (iv) the freedom to decide the norms of student evaluation; (v) the freedom to decide the contents of their curricula. (3) Political militancy of the faculty and students weakened the possibility of a cooperative state-university relationship in all political histories of the university. The militant actions of students and faculty against the state during the feudal regime facilitated state intervention in the affairs of the university, which in tum, brought about collegial disintegration and self-inflicted threat to the academic freedom of the students, faculty and administration. The Marxist ideology had the effect of dividing the academic community into classes of revolutionaries and counter-revolutionaries, which, in tum, generated an environment where everybody became a threat to the academic freedom of every other. During the reign of the federal democratic state that came to power after 1991, the ideological position of the academic community extended to rejecting the new constitution--which was premised on ethnic autonomy. The dominant faculty (including a section of the students) subscribed to the idea of a nation-state with a centrist unitary government. The latter seriously believed that ethnic autonomy leads to national disintegration contrary to the state's belief of the idea of 'unity in diversity'. This ideological difference divided the academic community itself (which was diverse in ethnic composition) into different camps and generated a campus environment where every person qualified to be a threat to the academic freedom of every other. IX This research has implications about the critical need for cooperative and deliberative state-university relations by adopting a stance of mutual accommodation and tolerance if the university is to contribute to national development by maintaining its cardinal values, academic freedom and its precondition, institutional autonomy. I have noted that during the early periods of Haile Selassie I University (the old name of Addis Ababa University), the idea of a university for society operated productively due to the context of mutual trust and understanding between the state and the university. One learns from the Ethiopian case study that a critical stance of the university could not be tolerated by the state if its criticisms affect the legitimacy of state-power. It is not, however, clear to what extent a university could be critical of the state and still maintain trust and support form it. But, a moral stance of moderation in one's criticisms could be tolerated more than an extremist position of critique, which might deter negotiations and deliberations. In this connection, Mazrui said, "What a university owes to government is neither defiance nor subservience. It is intelligent cooperation, respecting the academic's right to be skeptical without being subversive; sympathetic without being subservient" (Mazrui, 1978:275). A kind of partial autonomy or what Enslin and Kissak (2005) called conditional autonomy in the context of deliberative democracy would help Ethiopia to address the different needs and requirements of change and social transformation. The faculty has the added responsibility of promoting a deliberative culture and abandoning its old culture of engagement in violent political actions. It can contribute immensely if its main commitment is switched to promoting intellectual culture by sustaining a community of philosophers who engage in teaching students; and disseminating knowledge to serve the broader society. This demands a commitment to believe in the values of professional collegiality and self-criticality in addition to its traditional values of critiquing knowledge and society (mainly the state).

This study focused on investigating the significance of peace education to manage institutional conflict at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. As conflict is inevitable in all settings, the need for looking at diversified ways of mitigating conflict is paramount and mandatory. Higher education should serve communities and nations in generating solutions on one hand and as well generating educated human power equipped with basic knowledge, skills and required attitude, on the other hand. The situation observed in the study area of AAU and other universities is a concern because the level and magnitude of conflict being experienced in university campuses is increasing. Taking this into consideration, the study employed a qualitative inquiry and collected data from students, academic staff from a variety of departments, the student administration wing student, the Institute of Peace and Security Studies and support staff. The findings of the study tried to identify the nature and cause of conflict. Moreover, it collected data regarding the measures currently taken by the university and as well investigated to what extent peace education can serve as an instrument to manage institutional conflict in AAU. Most of the conflict types were found to be dysfunctional, which involves the affective domain based on the feelings and emotions of the conflicting parties, mainly students to each other. It was injected by ethnic conflict and almost no dialogue is held to resolve the conflicts among them. On the other hand, turbulent situations in the society are enacted at the university, with students entering into conflict demanding their ethnic groups’ democratic and human rights. When conflicts arise, conflict resolving mechanisms are traditional with the university resorting to the use of the external police force with dire consequences such as imprisonment, detainment and even death. The study thus investigated and revealed the potential of peace education as an innovative solution to resolve conflict collaboratively thus satisfying all parties.
Educational Management and Leadership
Ph. D. (Education Leadership and Management)

The inclusion of students with impairment in higher education needs enabling legal frameworks to lay the foundation for equal opportunities for those learners in all aspects of university life (Shepherd, 2001:17). To this effect, in the past two decades several countries have revised their legal documents in order to promote inclusive education at all levels of schooling. Accordingly, in 2006 the Ethiopian government also developed a new legislative document, namely Special Needs Education Program Strategy, in order to apply inclusive education in regular schools and in higher education institutions. Following the introduction of this policy document, all regular schools and higher education institutions in Ethiopia have been required to implement inclusive education as a mandatory approach when educating students with impairment, including those who are visually impaired. However, the actual implementation of an inclusive approach is being challenged by the social, political and physical circumstances of higher education institutions. Therefore, this study aimed at examining the existing challenges and prospects towards the inclusion of students with Visual Impairment (VI) in the particular context of Addis Ababa University (AAU). The study adopted an interpretive paradigm for better understanding and in-depth interpretation of the inclusion of students with VI at AAU. An interpretive paradigm also informs the detailed judgements made by experts of a suggested action plan for progressively providing support for students with VI at AAU. The study also applied the critical disability paradigm as a complementary philosophical base in order to examine critically the challenges that students with VI face and to suggest ways to transform the inclusive policies and practices of AAU in favour of the students. The researcher undertook a Delphi investigation to address the main aim of this research (i.e. to determine how best to implement an action plan that progressively increases support for students with VI at AAU over a period of time). The action plan that comprises various support measures and the necessary resources was developed using the empirical results of this study as well as the existing findings and best practices found in the literature study. It was scrutinized and approved by a number of experts. The researcher recommends that the plan should be implemented over the next five years at AAU in order to improve the support provided to students with VI.
Inclusive Education
D. Ed. (Inclusive Education)