Addis Ababa University (AAU) has welcomed more than 4,000 new, regular undergraduate (freshman) students who are assigned by the FDRE Ministry of Education and came from all parts of the country since Saturday, 26^th of June 2021.

Regarding the reception, Ermias Tefera, Head of the Student Dean Clubs’ Administration, said:

“We think we have done a better job of enrolling students. The reception was delayed due to current issues (election, COVID-19). In order to make the reception even better, we have deployed 130-140 young volunteers to serve the whole days.

We learned that some students had difficulty accessing because of system crashes, as students were enrolled online. We worked with the Student Union and the relevant authorities to find a solution to alleviate the problem.

The Students’ Dean Office received the information about the enrollment on a few days ahead. As a result, we had difficulty in delivering items such as badges, banners, T-shirts, etc. that should have been available to volunteers.

One reason for the lack of logistics is that the time (June) is the time in which the budget of the Fiscal Year is about to be closed and we were not allowed to spend. So, it was a hard time for us to work as much as we had planned.

It was a good of opinion that the number of vehicles assigned to the five entrances of Addis Ababa was better than usual. However, there were some gaps in the car placement, as it was not clear which entrance could accommodate more students.

As we did this, I would like to thank many stakeholders such as the Student Union, Dean of Students, External Relations, Registrar, Student Services, Transportation and Drivers for their outstanding service. I hope, we will be able to do better jobs with good coordination in the future. ”

Alamrew Abay, Seid Mohammed, Yonas Tefera and their friends from different parts of Ethiopia, commented together on the reception of the university:

“The reception was very pleasant from the bus line; that’s great. As soon as we arrived, we boarded a service. Members of the Students’ Union welcomed us and took us to the dormitory. We thank them for their invaluable help.

The food and dorm services were made available as soon as we arrived. Except for the minor flaws we see in the bedrooms, most of the service is good. ”

Wendwosen and his friends, who volunteered for the Students Union, said:

“Initially, there was a coordination problem. The pressure was on some people; some were free. These problems, however, have been rectified since Saturday afternoon, and good service has been provided. The students were delighted with the reception.

There was no much control over the cars; in some places, there were several cars, and in the other there was a lack of service; this part had some management problems in general.”

By:  Abraham Girmay

Photo: Andualem Aseffa