Programs

There is one PhD program and three Master’s programs in the center of RLDS. The PhD program is only available in regular programs, whereas the Master’s programs are available in both regular and extension programs. These master’s programs are Regional and Local Development Studies (RLDS), Urban Development and Livelihood (UDL), and Urban Land Administration and Management (ULAM). The PhD program is in Urban, Regional, and Local Development Studies.

Regional and Local Development Studies (RLDS)

The Regional and Local Development Studies program was established in 1996 jointly by Addis Ababa University and the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) as a capacity-building project for training and policy research in regional and local development. The University embraced the program in 2004 as one of its teaching departments upon the phasing out of the project.

The Master’s program is an interdisciplinary program focusing on different dimensions of development at a sub-national level. Subnational entities, or regional and local governments, have gained autonomy in many cases, while expectations of civil servants and officials at these levels have risen. This necessitates the recruitment of high-quality development managers and experts from regional and local governments; private sector organizations; non-governmental organizations; and various civil organizations. The decentralization drive of the country further demands trained personnel conversant with various development issues at sub-national levels.

Objectives

The general objective of the program is to produce highly qualified people in the fields of regional and local development studies who will be competent in promoting and managing socio-economic development at sub-national levels in Ethiopia through the development of interdisciplinary education and research. In the long run, it is envisaged that the program would be broadened to include development studies for countries in the Horn of Africa and Eastern Africa.

MA in Urban Development and Livelihood (UDL)  

The master’s program in Urban Development and Livelihood (UDL) was established in 2006 under the name Urban Development and Management. However, in 2014, the curriculum was reviewed based on the feedback of stakeholders, including the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing and the graduates of the program, and the nomenclature of the program now takes its current name. There are two major reasons for establishing this program. First, the lack of professional competencies in the field of urban development and planning and the failure to include various actors in urban development and management are the major reasons. Second, the existence of gaps by practitioners in the area of urban finance, infrastructure planning, urban environmental planning, partnership, urban agriculture, social aspects of urban development, informal sector, urban governance, real estate, industrial estate, and so on.

Objectives

The aims of the MA in Urban Development and Livelihoods are to produce urban practitioners, researchers, and managers who possess strong technical, analytical, leadership, facilitation, and research skills.

The specific objectives of the Program are the following:

• To provide students with concepts, principles, and experiences related to urban development and livelihoods;
• To develop the research skills of the candidates to investigate urban situations and general urban problems;
• To enhance the professional capacities of the candidates in the fields of urban development and management;
• To promote applied research in broad areas of urban development
• To provide consultancy services to governmental and non-governmental institutions; and
• To promote partnership in the training of students and in urban development and livelihoods with the relevant government organizations, NGOs, civil society and the private sector at large.

MA in Urban Land Administration and Management (ULAM)

The MA program in Urban Land Administration and Management was established in 2014 with the aim of satisfying the increasing demand for high-level land administration and management professionals, which is manifested in terms of their critical shortage, particularly in medium and large municipalities as well as regional and federal institutions entrusted with land administration and management related mandates. The program will produce high-level professionals who possess strong analytical, leadership, and research-oriented knowledge and skills and who are capable of providing strategic leadership and policy advice within land administration and management departments.

Accordingly, the program combines knowledge-intensive and skill-oriented courses with the goal of imparting basic competencies among the students to be enrolled in the program, which will help them solve multifaceted problems in the urban land administration and management sector. The program is also designed to expose students to state-of-the-art knowledge in the field of land administration and management as well as impart basic problem-solving and research skills that enable them to make critical analysis of land-related problems to come up with workable solutions. After completing the program, prospective graduates are expected to have job opportunities in municipalities; in the real estate sector; and in different federal, regional, and city administration offices with land administration and management related mandates.

Objective

The program aims to produce high-level professionals who possess strong analytical, leadership, technical, and research skills and are capable of playing managerial, leadership, and policy-advising roles in the administration and management of urban land. The program also aims to produce graduates with strong problem-solving orientation and who will respond to the system design and management-related requirements of a modern land administration and management system. Accordingly, the specific objectives of the program include:

• To provide students interested in a career in urban land administration and management with cutting-edge professional land administration and management education.
• Equip students with advanced knowledge and skills that will enable them to analyze and develop workable working procedures for land administration and management-oriented institutions.
• Impart fundamental research skills among the graduates so that they will be able to identify, analyze, and solve key issues in the urban land administration and management sector.
• This program provides students with the knowledge and skills necessary to perform key coordination, leadership, and policy-advising roles in the urban land administration and management sector.

PhD program: URBAN, REGIONAL AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT (URLD)

The PhD program in Urban, Regional, and Local Development was established in 2020 with the aim of catering to all MA programs of the center in a multidisciplinary PHD program that prepares highly qualified urban and regional specialists. The PhD program in urban, regional, and local development should be a high-caliber program which, together with and as part of the center of excellence, will produce knowledge and high-level academicians who will teach, conduct research, and advise on urban and regional development and governance in general and the academic sector in particular. The program’s main focus areas include: urban-rural linkage and economic transformation; urban and rural job creation and poverty reduction; issues of urbanization policy and strategy for regional and local development and poverty reduction; urban and local development studies; decentralization, power, and development; green and smart cities; inclusive development; public policy and program; good governance; local economic development; and community development.

Objective

The objective of the PhD Program in Urban, Regional, and Local Development is to produce high-caliber researchers, advisors, and academicians in the areas of urban and regional development. More specifically, the program intends to:

• This allows students with exceptional academic ability to continue their intellectual growth, develop critical thinking and development skills, and become members of the professional community of scholars.

• The center will produce PhD-level graduates in urban, regional, and local development who will conduct vital research and serve the needs of the country;

• The country’s capacity-building needs will be met by producing graduates who can train others at the highest level