The Council of Ministers for the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) approved an autonomous establishment draft regulation of Addis Ababa University (AAU) during its 23^rd regular meeting held on the 4^th of August 2023.

It is known that the government issued the Autonomous University Proclamation to ensure the academic independence of higher education institutions, to allow them to carry out teaching and research activities free from political and administrative interference.

Accordingly, a draft regulation has been prepared and submitted to the Council of Ministers to enable AAU an autonomous university and maintain its academic and administrative independence, to be a pioneer in the reform movement in the education sector and implement the autonomous university system being a model for other universities in the country.

The information prevailed from the Prime Minister’s Office revealed that the Council after extensive discussion on the draft regulation, decided to put it into effect from the day it is published in the Federal ‘Negarit’ Newspaper.

Professor Tassew Woldehanna, President of AAU, expressed his happiness and gratitude for the success of the University in granting its autonomy after 50 years of struggle.

Prof. Tassew appreciated his Excellency Abiy Ahmed (PhD), Prime Minister of the FDRE, for his ardent decision and direct order to make AAU the first autonomous university in the country. He also congratulated the University’s community, other candidate government universities and the people of Ethiopia in general.

Professor Tassew Weldehanna has been extensively working on the efforts of making AAU an autonomous university since he assumed office as the president of the University.  The following two news articles, among many, published by staff reporters, are some examples that indicate what has been done so far:

AAU Holds a Discussion Forum on Its Autonomous Charter Proclamation

Addis Ababa University (AAU) held a meeting to discuss on the first draft of AAU’s Charter of Proclamation with members of the council, Deans, Directors, Associate Deans and Department Heads of the University at Eshetu Chole Hall on the 7^th of July 2022.

According to the information from the discussion, AAU has planned to become an authorized-chartered university and the implementation activity was started a year ago forming seven committees. To achieve this goal, the charter drafting committee prepared Charter Proclamation and presented for discussion to add inputs.

Professor Tassew Woldehanna, President of AAU, said that it is planned to automate the university on four different foundations: academic freedom, freedom on organizational structure, financial freedom and freedom on human resource management.

The first major task, according to Prof. Tassew, is to prepare a Charter and a draft document is already developed based on the previous charter that AAU had.  It requires a lot of discussion and input from the participants, he added.

“AAU was founded as independent chartered university; however, during the establishment of Ethiopian Higher Commission, it lost its freedom for the past 50 years and has been working under various restrictive laws that have a number of disadvantages,” Prof. Tassew said.

According to Prof. Tassew, AAU’s being an autonomous university, will improve its achievements better than the current performance. “This needs better administration and stronger management and we should properly prepare the rules in the Charter,” he added.

Finally, Prof. Tassew noted that the draft Charter will be reviewed by the board members of AAU and submitted to the council of Ministers, the ministry of education, the attorney office, the ministry of finance and finally to the Prime Minister’s office for final approval.

Public University Autonomy and Quality Education: Opportunities and Challenges

Consortium of Ethiopian Public Universities (CEPU) in collaboration with GIZ-Ethiopia, STEP, conducted a national conference of public university autonomy and quality education focused on opportunities and challenges at Capital Hotel and Spa on the 11^th of June 2022.

Professor Tassew Weldehanna, President of AAU and CEPU, stated that the university authorization will have a big challenge especially on the university leadership though self-authority is not a new phenomenon as a number of universities in the world including Africa are authorized.

AAU, since its foundation was self-authorized for 25 years (1952 to 1977) during the time of the king, according to Prof. Tassew. “This can be used as an experience and we can also take other experiences from overseas. But the system of authority that we function should be based on an Ethiopian context,” Prof. Tassew added.

There are a number of universities in Africa like in Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, etc. for self-authorization to be mentioned and take experiences from.

“AAU was very known, vibrant and influential when it was a chartered university from its establishment. The students’ movement that required ‘land to the tiller’ was one of the cases in point,” he said.

                           C  o  n  g  r  a  t  u  l  a  t  i  o  n  s  !

Editor: Abraham Girmay

Photo: Fikremariam Beyene

           Andualem Aseffa