General Biology Program Unit

Establishment

The General Biology Program Unit is an offshoot of the former Department of Biology. Biology was one of the first subjects incorporated in the higher education program of the then University College of Addis Ababa, which was established in 1950 as the first higher education institution of the country. It started as a three-year diploma program and was later on upgraded to a BSc degree program in 1956/57, along with the formal establishment of the Department of Biology. The four year degree program was launched in 1959/60; it had biology major and chemistry minor course components. In addition, there was a curricular component that included several pedagogical courses which helped in training graduates who will join the teaching profession. The four year BSc program was reduced to a three-year program as of 2004/05. Following the implementation of the structural reform of at AAU at the end of 2010, the Department of Biology was subdivided into four program units under the administrative umbrella of the Faculty of Life Sciences. These program units were, General Biology, Zoological Sciences, Microbial Cellular and Molecular Biology and Plant Biology and Biodiversity Management. The General Biology Program was mandated with the administration of the biology BSc program while the other program units took the responsibility of the Graduate programs under their respective areas of specialization. After almost one year of functioning, a structural amendment was put in place which resulted in the dissolution of the Faculty of Life Sciences and the designation of the program units concerned with the graduate program as Departments. The General Biology Program Unit was left at the same status to be run as a host academic program under the Department of Zoological Sciences.

Vision

The vision of the program unit is to become the center of excellence in the teaching of undergraduate biology at the regional and continental level.

Mission

The mission is to produce well qualified, competent and high caliber biologists who will assume professional positions in biology and related fields.