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Congratulations Ethiopian University Students Class of 2013
IDEA Editorial
July 8, 2013
The
Institute of Development and Education for Africa
(IDEA), Inc. extends its heartfelt congratulations
to all 2013 Ethiopian Universities graduates and
celebrates their highest academic achievements
with them. IDEA is proud to witness the
spectacular and remarkable milestone that the
Ethiopian students of 2013 have made and have
colorfully celebrated in all the university
campuses.
There
are now more than thirty universities in Ethiopia;
the oldest is Addis Ababa University and the
newest Addigrat University. While the former has
been conducting graduation ceremonies since its
foundation as University College of Addis Ababa in
1950, the latter has yet to celebrate its first
graduates. In between these two universities fall
many universities such as Mekelle University,
Jimma University, Wollo University, Bahir Dar
University etc.
Mekelle
University has celebrated its 21st
annual graduation on June 6, 2013 and a total of
4,254 students have graduated with baccalaureates
and masters degrees and while 3,514 have graduated
with their BA degree, 532 have gotten their MA and
208 obtained post graduate diplomas.
Jimma
University, founded in 1999 has now an enrollment
close to 35,000 and on June 29, 2013 it celebrated
its first round academic year graduation. The
total numbers of graduates of 2,766 are from the
College of Agriculture & Veterinary Medicine,
Institute of Technology, College of Social
Sciences and Law, and School of graduates. 31 of
the students graduated in biomedical engineering
and this is first of its kind in Ethiopia.
Moreover, Jimma University is proud to produce 532
female graduates.
Bahir
Dar University boasted the highest number of
graduates; a total of 7,017 students graduated
with their first and second degrees, and like
Jimma University Bahir Dar has also its sui
generis that make the university unique among
Ethiopian universities and it is the successful
graduation of 154 marine engineers.
During
the graduation ceremony at Wollo University, in
his inaugural speech the university president
congratulated the graduating students but he also
challenged them by saying, �you should be
creators of jobs and not expecting it for granted
to be given to you.� Interestingly, students in
all respective universities seem to understand the
motto of self-reliance instead of totally
depending on the government for their survival.
Based
on the implicit assumption that the graduates can
create their own businesses and become
self-reliant could be a gratifying posture, but
not necessarily reflecting the realities on the
ground. Self-reliance could not simply be
translated into action unless there is a
concomitant industrial base to accommodate the
graduating students. Ethiopia is now on the
threshold of industrial transformation and it will
take sometime to fully meet the job demands of
graduates and it stands to reason to gauge and/or
question the employment capacity of the country.
Transformation involves a change of intermediate
vector, but sometimes (given the uncertainties of
the global economy) the trajectory of
transformation could be idiosyncratic and
unpredictable. In this kind of scenario, thus, if
the students have achieved some sort of mindset to
work in the rural areas instead of dwelling in the
cities and engage in clerical jobs only, at the
very outset a panacea for the problem of
unemployment could be reasonably achieved.
The
graduated students have successfully accomplished
the requirements for the undergraduate and
graduate degrees and they must have been doing
their assignments, but the first thing they have
done throughout their college years was the will
and commitment to learn and pay attention to the
data to be learned, and here were sown the
essential components of he creative process.
Based
on the realities on the ground in Ethiopia, thus,
can we affirmatively deduce that the Ethiopian
fresh graduates are on uncharted waters or on
limpid waters? The answer could be both, because
given the late Ethiopian start in
industrialization the country could not instantly
guarantee jobs for all graduates but given the
fast economic growth the country is scoring and
the overall right track on development programs,
these graduates are going to enjoy the fruits and
outcome of industrialization.
The
classes of 2013 of Ethiopian university students
are not only the torchbearers of intellectual and
professional achievements, but they are also the
cultural continuities of their forbears and the
repository of educational heritage. More
importantly, the Ethiopian graduates have now
delineated the foundations for a new history of
Ethiopia and the least we can do is congratulate
them and celebrate their achievements.
On
behalf of the Institute of Development and
Education for Africa (IDEA), Inc.
Ghelawdewos
Araia, PhD
All
Rights Reserved. Copyright � IDEA, Inc. 2013. For
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