Higher Education in Ethiopia: Recent Developments and Challenges

This paper explores developments and challenges in Ethiopian higher education focusing on the decade preceding 2018. The article especially focuses on reflecting on issues related to enrolment, staff development, funding, research and graduate studies, internationalization and continuing education.


INTRODUCTION
Some scholars claim higher learning in Ethiopia is as old as the Obelisks of Axum and goes back to the monastic traditions of the Orthodox Church and thus dates as far back as 300 AD (Abebe, 1995;Kebede, 2010;Teferra, 2017;Teferra & Altbach, 2004;Saint, 2004;Wagaw, 1990). Church education aimed not only at training priests and monks but also civil servants such as judges, governors, scribes, treasurers, and general administrators (Wagaw, 1979).
Islam, which took root in Ethiopia in the 7th century, also introduced the two-tier Quranic system of education with distinct basic and higher levels (Abebe, 1995;Asgedom & Hagos, 2016;Seyoum, 1995).
However, higher education in its contemporary form is commonly traced back to the opening of the Addis Ababa University College in 1950 (Wagaw, 1990;Asgedom & Hagos, 2016). Between the 1950s and the last decade of the 20 th century, the country had only two public higher education institutions and no private higher education providers (Yirdaw, 2016).
However, expansion initiatives that started towards the last decade of the 20th century increased the number of state-run universities to eight by 2002 (Bishaw & Melesse, 2017). This trend continued during the past two decades, and it can be argued that the outstanding features of contemporary Ethiopian higher education are strong state-led expansion and rapid reform.
At present, Ethiopian universities enroll students who have completed two-year preparatory classes, in grades 11 and 12 with: three to six-year undergraduate programs, two-year master's 5 universities can be regarded as more similar than differentiated in that they focus on teaching -undergraduates in particular -rather than on research and graduate education. Research is currently in need to be diversified through differentiation and promoting graduate education, especially considering that many of the country's public universities aspire to become researchintensive (Woldegiyorgis, 2015;Teferra, 2007). However, it is worth noting that the system seems to be horizontally differentiated regarding having public and private providers. Limited initiatives towards differentiation also include measures that have been taken to establish Institutes of Technology (IOTs) in eight public universities and separate universities of science and technology jointly overseen by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and Technology.
In the subsequent sections, current trends, and challenges related to enrolment, staffing, funding, research output, continuing education, internationalization, and graduate studies are discussed in consulting secondary data from previous research and literature. As an educator in a public university in Ethiopia for close to ten years, the author's own experience also informed the article.

ENROLMENT
As stated above, in the past two decades, Ethiopian higher education has been expanding, especially in enrollment. The gross enrolment rate of the eligible age cohort which displayed limited growth of 0.6% on average between 1970 and 2000 (Saint, 2004), has risen to more than 8 % since the turn of the 21 st century; and, currently, close to 800,000 undergraduate students are enrolled in Ethiopian universities in regular, evening, summer and distance programs. More than 80% of undergraduate students are currently enrolled in state-run universities, while private higher education providers account for 15 % of the student intake for the 2015-2016 academic year (MOE, 2017). The expansion of the country's higher 6 education system has led to the expansion of postgraduate enrolments, too, the phenomenon of which will be discussed below in the graduate education section. This considerable expansion seems to pose some challenges, however. Issues related to the negative implications of so-called massification projects on the overall quality of education have been raised by several researchers (Van Deuren et al., 2016;O'Keeffe, 2016;Reisberg, & Rumbley, 2015;Akalu, 2014;Semela, 2011;Tessema, 2009). Like in other African higher education systems, the access versus quality conundrum is one of the complex challenges Ethiopian higher education need to address, for "Improving academic quality and expanding access do not lie on the same (if not necessarily opposite) trajectories, owing largely to the dynamics of resources" (Teferra, 2013, p. 3). To address these challenges, some scholars (e.g., Semela, 2011a;Waweru & Abate, 2013) have argued for a slowdown of this trend to focus on qualitative concerns like equity and quality of education and research. It has to be noted, 7 however, that still more expansion efforts need to take place to increase access as the current student gross enrolment figure in Ethiopia, which stands at 8.13%, is less than the gross enrolment ratio of both sub-Saharan Africa and low-income countries and countries (UNESCO, 2017). On the other hand, h concerns have been expressed on the increased enrolment of students which fails to take into account the limited human and other resources of universities leading to overburdening academic staff, implying heavy teaching workload and hence repercussions on quality education (Ayalew, 2017;Akalu, 2014;Ashcroft, 2010;Tessema, 2009). Besides, necessary infrastructure such as furniture, ICT, laboratory chemicals, and library resources were also in short supply in Ethiopian universities (Akalu, 2014;Ayalew, 2017). The massive enrolment figures are also critiqued for producing graduates lacking skills needed by the labor market (Saint, 2004;Ayalew 2017;Bishaw & Melesse, 2017). The increased enrollment initiatives generally focus on recruiting 70% of students to STEM fields while the remaining 30% for social sciences and humanities (MOE, 2010). This policy has also been questioned considering the demand for and availability of jobs in the natural sciences, and engineering is already saturated Woldegiyorgis, 2012).
Having a more equitable higher education system while also focusing on providing much-needed access has also been another significant challenge for contemporary Ethiopian higher education. Though creating a more equitable system has been one of the major concerns for higher education policy and reform in Ethiopian higher education (Molla, 2014;FDRE 2003FDRE , 2009, there have been concerns that goals set for creating such a higher education system are not being met (Sidelil, 2015;Molla & Gale, 2015;Molla, 2014). According to Molla & Gale (2015), higher education in Ethiopia is characterized by the under-representation of especially women, geo-politically marginalized ethnic groups, people from low socioeconomic backgrounds and people from peripheral regions and rural areas. Sidelil (2015, p. 58) argues, "Although there are some strong political and legal basis, as well as policy 8 provisions, the issue of equity in higher education in Ethiopia is addressed in a fragmented and insufficient way." For instance, research points out to significant gender disparities in higher education participation and completion in the country (MOE, 2017;Molla, 2014;Sidelil, 2015;Yizengaw, 2007).
Despite the recent gains widening access to female students, current female student enrolment which has more than doubled compared to the 16% gross enrolment at the turn of the century (Bishaw & Melesse, 2017), still stands at 34.14% at the undergraduate and at 23.1% at the postgraduate levels (MOE, 2017). Ethiopia currently ranks 136th in terms of the global gender parity index in tertiary education (World Economic Forum, 2017). The challenges of creating an equitable higher education system also surface when we consider the considerable rural-urban enrolment gap (Molla & Gale, 2015;Abiy et al., 2014). For instance, Lestrade (2012) states that more than 70% of Ethiopian higher education students come from families in the top income quartile and from urban areas. This is a considerable disparity, especially when considering in the same year, i.e., 2012, the country's urban population accounted for only 18% of the mostly rural country (World Bank, 2018). Students with disabilities also seem to be left out of the 'massification' project Arefaine, 2008;Addis Ababa University, 2014). According to , though the number of students with disabilities in Ethiopian higher education institutions has risen from 398 in 2009-10 to more than 1000 in 2015, the enrolment ratio number is still low, considering the percentage of the population with disabilities in the general population, and the limited number of disabled students undertake their studies in unaccommodating environments where most higher education institutions are ill-prepared to provide the necessary provisions. In addition, a study conducted by Addis Ababa University with data from 10 universities in the country reiterates the following issues disabled students face in Ethiopian universities: problems related to placement decisions, lack of sufficient orientations upon entry to universities, absences of assistive technologies, rigid 9 curricula, absence of diversity of management strategies, lack of preparedness on the part of university leadership, limitations in service provisions and attitudinal problems towards disability (Addis Ababa University, 2014).

ACADEMIC STAFF
To cater to the demands of the expanding higher education sector, the number of academic staff members in Ethiopian universities has risen from 20,822 in 2012 to 30,496 in 2016, a 46.5% increase over four years (MOE, 2017).    (Areaya, 2010;Ayalew, 2017). As already mentioned briefly above, another major challenge in Ethiopian higher education in terms of staffing is the heavy teaching workload which academic staff are increasingly experiencing because of the expansion of the system which does not go along with academic staff development (Tessema 2009;Weldemichael, 2014;Ayalew 2017).
For instance, the teacher-student ratio has risen from 1:8 in 1995 to 1:15 in 2015 to 1: 20 in 2016 (MOE, 2017;Reisberg & Rumbley, 2015). Reisberg & Rumbley (2015) state the reasons for this situation: "The (Ethiopian higher education) system struggles to fill many teaching vacancies given the absence of enough qualified Ethiopians to fill these positions. As a result, instructors are also hired from abroad. Most universities do not have the resources to effectively supervise or mentor so many new and inexperienced instructors" (p. 24).
When considering Ethiopian higher education in terms of academic freedom and the intellectual space in higher education institutions, research indicates that there have been concerns both at the institutional as well as researchers' levels via the country's Higher Education Proclamation (2009), which, in Article 16, states that "academic freedom shall be guaranteed for every institution in pursuit of its mission and consistent with international good practice". Academic freedom seemed to be higher during the imperial regime 50 years ago than it is today (Assefa, 2008;Asgedom, 2007). The curtailing of academic freedom, which started towards the downfall of the imperial regime in the 1960s and 70s, and which went to the extent of placing universities under 'complete silence and mere ideological compliance' during the era of the military Derg regime, seems to have continued to this day (Asgedom, 2007). In the past three decades, limitations to academic freedom have been manifested through politically motivated detentions of university professors, undemocratic institutional culture, alienation of staff and students, limited institutional and academic power in terms of student admission, placement and evaluation, limited institutional and professors' rights in deciding and revising curriculum content, top-down decision making and limited participation in the process, absence of institutional charter, campus raids by police, and resignations of influential university professors (Assefa, 2007;Asgedom, 2007;Ayalew, 2017;Altbach, 2001). Other issues that might have compromised academic freedom for university staff, according to Assefa (2008), are limited right to establish professional associations and "the student (enrolment) explosion." Another issue related to academic staff in Ethiopian higher education is the so-called 'brain drain' (Van Deuren, 2015;Teferra & Altbach 2004;Wondimu, 2003;Ayalew, 2017).
Academics from universities in the country tend to migrate to other sectors, countries, and continents in large numbers, searching for better opportunities and working conditions. Though the number varies from institution to institution, the estimate of the brain drain from Ethiopian universities might be as much as 50% (Teferra & Altbach 2004). Within the country, internal mobility and brain drain manifests itself with the movement of academic staff from new universities to well-established and less remote ones, and from public universities to private ones, whose salaries are as much as three times higher than public universities' pay scales (Van Deuren, 2015; Teferra & Altbach, 2004). Gurmessa & Bayissa, (2015, p. 328) also state that the low pay and non-performance based remuneration has led to a "high exodus" of top talent to other industries. In a study on remuneration in Ethiopian public higher education, Ayalew (2012) concurs with Altbach et al. (2012) in that compensation is at the heart of the brain drain crisis in the country. Ethiopian academics also move to other African countries in search of greener pastures. For instance, according to Teferra & Altbach (2004), several senior scholars from Addis Ababa University hold faculty positions at the University of Botswana. The South to North movement of academics is also negatively affecting higher education in Ethiopia, like in the rest of Africa. By some estimates, there are more Ethiopian doctoral degree holders abroad than there are in the country (Altbach, 2007). Ethiopians who travel abroad for further education and training tend not to return to the country (Wondimu, 2003).

13
Consequently, comprising academic freedom, salary and remuneration, limited professional advancement and research, excessive red tape on human resource and financial management procedures, and a less conducive work environment also seem to point towards a low level of motivation and engagement of academic staff in Ethiopian universities (Gurmessa & Bayissa, 2015;Ayalew, 2017;Yigezu, 2013). The substantial gender imbalance, as demonstrated in Figures 2 and 3, is also one massive challenge for Ethiopian higher education.
Currently, only 11.72 % of the total academic staff in Ethiopian universities are female, which is a mere half of the overall low 22.2% average for Sub-Saharan Africa (World Bank, 2015).

FUNDING AND RESOURCES
The Ethiopian government spends more than 1.5% of the national gross domestic product on higher education which is one of the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa ( namely: learning and teaching, research and development, consultancy and community services, and management and administration (Mamo, 2015). Ethiopian public universities negotiate their budget with the government on an annual basis.
Though heavily dependent on state funding, Ethiopian public higher education institutions are by law allowed to be engaged in income-generating activities (FDRE, 2009, 14 Articles 66 & 67). Universities, however, do not seem to be proactive in diversifying their funding base by strengthening their internal revenue mechanisms and, in parallel, seeking external funding other than the state (Waweru & Abate, 2013). According to Mamo (2015), Ethiopian universities generate only approximately 5%-10% of their total recurrent budget from their income-generating activities, which include:  collecting tuition fees from students who are not covered under the cost-sharing initiative,  seeking donor funding,  seeking financial assistance and partnerships with regional and local institutions,  providing campus services,  engaging in selling agricultural products and providing consultancy services (Mamo, 2015;Waweru & Abate, 2013).
Revenue generated in terms of tuition fees from so-called 'non-regular' students (both undergraduate and graduate) like those enrolled in evening, weekend and summer programs accounts for the most substantial amount of internally-generated income for Ethiopian public universities (Mamo, 2015;Yigezu, 2013).
With regards to tuition fees collected from regular students, the country has adopted a cost-sharing scheme which stipulates that beneficiaries pay "a graduate tax" amounting to 15% of tuition-related costs to the government after completing their studies by paying at least 10% of their monthly income (FDRE, 2003a(FDRE, , 2009 However, there are some challenges with the current funding model and practices that have ramifications for the quality of education and knowledge production. Firstly, there is heavy dependence of Ethiopian public universities on state funding, which, at 60-70 %, is spent on salaries and providing food and accommodation to students, rather than academic activities like research and innovation, publications, and postgraduate studies (Yigezu, 2013). This pattern of funding allocation coupled with the limited capacity of universities to generate internal revenue and seeking external funding has implications for higher education research and graduate studies in particular since much of this funding does not come from direct government funding but from international partnerships and donor funds instead (Gebremariam, 2010;Ayalew, 2017). For instance, in Addis Ababa University, where a considerable amount of the country's postgraduate education and research takes place, Yigezu (2013, p. 59) assesses that the amount of budget allocated for masters and Ph.D. students as well as faculty is "by far inadequate." Even the limited income-generating activities Ethiopian universities are engaged in are heavily skewed towards teaching and learning while generating limited income related to research and development (Waweru & Ababte, 2013).
A lack of flexibility regarding procurement procedures and inefficiency in using existing resources is also considered obstacles to overcome to improve resource utilization and funding. As Waweru & Abate (2013, p. 95) found out, in Ethiopian public universities.
"facilities are underutilised and procurement systems largely inefficient. More could be accomplished with existing facilities if universities were flexible with time usage and efficient procurement systems." This budgetary red tape and inflexibility also affect research in Ethiopian public higher education institutions, with researchers describing financial procedures as a "nightmare" (Yigezu, 2013). The "rigid and stringent" procurement procedures also seem to have led to under-spending (Yigezu, 2013;Ayalew, 2017). For example, in 2010-2011, Addis Ababa University, with its faculty of almost 2,200 and 19,000 students in graduate programs was allocated a budget equivalent to US$150,000 for research and development, 17.6% of which had not been spent by the end of the financial year (Ayalew, 2017).
Another funding-related concern is the limited financial autonomy of the country's universities (Mamo, 2015;Yigezu, 2013;Waweru & Abate, 2013). In terms of financial management, Mamo (2015) states that "The universities are not legally allowed to move funds between budget heads without passing stringent approval procedures. Nor are they able to borrow money to expand their revenue generation" (p. 158). Universities are not allowed to keep surplus from their annual budget granted by the state either (Mamo, 2015); they have to return the unused financial resources at the end of a given budget year to the government treasury. Though Ethiopian universities seem to enjoy more autonomy in owning buildings and other related infrastructure, they cannot rent, lease, or sell them (Mamo, 2015).
The limits on institutional financial autonomy also extend to decisions related to the costsharing system. It seems that Ethiopian higher education institutions have the power and duty only to implement policy. The proclamation on the cost-sharing scheme does not state if higher education institutions are to be consulted while making decisions related to study fees. Article 12 of the proclamation illustrates this concern: Without prejudice to other provisions in this Regulation, institutions shall have the following powers and duties: (a) to follow up the implementation of the cost-sharing system; (b) to notify the beneficiary, at the beginning of the academic year, the appropriate amount of cost the beneficiary has to share, and to keep record of all necessary data; (c) to provide the beneficiary with documents stating the amounts that are to be paid by beneficiaries.
Besides the limited involvement of universities in the policy-making and setting fees, the costsharing scheme is critiqued in terms of its efficiency to generate revenue for the state in the 17 short term. Weak tax collection capacity and a lack of information on graduate mobility are also some of the systemic challenges to be addressed if the scheme is to be implemented successfully (Ayalew, 2013;Van Deuren et al., 2016).
The Ethiopian higher education system also seems to be affected by decreased perstudent budgetary allocations (Saint, 2004;Ashcroft, 2010;Reisberg & Rumbley, 2010;Semela, 2011). According to Van Deuren et al. (2016), annual allowances per student seem to have decreased from over $2,000 to approximately $850 when student welfare subsidies are included and approximately $636 when those subsidies are excluded.
This situation leads to reduced overall budget availability.
The following recommendations were made to improve issues related to funding in Ethiopian higher education:  For sustainable financing of higher education, encouraging university-industry partnerships (Yigezu, 2013;Waweru & Abate, 2013 (2013) also recommend the contracting and outsourcing of non-core activities to reduce costs. They state that outsourcing also benefits universities by "lessening the supervision burden for university staff, reducing the non-academic workforce…improving performance levels and introducing greater flexibility in the application of university funds" (Waweru & Abate, 2013, p. 95).

18
 To enhance and strengthen universities' internal revenue generation capacity, higher education institutions need to be given targets and need to come up with strategies.
 To provide more access at a reduced cost, taking advantage of distance education is suggested. The initiative to establish the Ethiopian Virtual Campus to connect 14 public universities with e-learning platforms and the idea of creating an Ethiopian Open University need to be revisited, according to Yigezu, (2013).
 Other recommendations include extending the cost-sharing initiative to cover graduate studies and students in private higher educations (Yigezu, 2013) and increasing the flexibility of funding management while strengthening institutional financial autonomy through decentralized and participatory management (Yigezu, 2013;Waweru & Abate, 2013).

RESEARCH OUTPUT
To date, there appears to be no systematic way of measuring research output in Ethiopian universities based on indicators like publications and conferences organized on both the national level and institutional levels. Nevertheless, the most recent Web of Science report from 2017, which assesses current trends in East African higher education research between 2007-2016 -by analyzing more than 18,000 scientific and scholarly journals, proceedings and book chapters from all research areas -states that research outputs in health and environmental 19 and agricultural sciences are the top disciplines Ethiopian researchers engage in during the past ten years. The above finding that research is focused on medical and health sciences is also backed up by a World Bank report by Blom et al. (2015), which indicates that 21% of the research produced in Ethiopia is concentrated on this particular field. From the report, it can be inferred that close to 70 % of research in the country is concentrated on medical sciences, engineering, agriculture, and the natural sciences. The share of engineering is only 6 %. Like in the other parts of Africa, research in STEM fields seems to be lagging behind other disciplines (Blom et al., 2015), though policy-wise the country gives considerable attention to the central role Town (Teshome, 2016). According to the aforementioned Web of Science Analytics (2017) statistics, the Universities of Gondar, Jimma, Mekelle, and Hawassa take second, third, fourth, and fifth place after Addis Ababa University as the most research-productive universities in the country. As for producing impactful research, however, Mekelle University seems to be ahead of the other four, with the average research paper published from the university in the last ten years was being cited 2.6 times more than the world average (Web of Science, 2017) as shown in table 1 below.  (Melese, 2012). This low engagement with research also extends to the acquisition of patents: in 2010, the country had no patent applications, whereas South Africa had 821 applications. This situation is indicative of the challenges related to converting knowledge into innovation and technology transfer in Ethiopia (Molla &Cuthbert, 2016). As a core function of higher education, research does not seem to be given due attention, let alone financial and human resources. Academic staff members in many universities -though officially, university academic staff are expected to dedicate 25 % of their time doing research while teaching is expected to take up 75 % of their workload (FDRE, 2003;Woldemichael, 2014).
In addition to a poor research culture (Jowi & Obamba, 2011), low research productivity in Ethiopian higher education is also linked to the low or "chronic underinvestment" and financial support which is given to this function of higher education (Kitaw, 2006 (2013) also expressed the concern that higher education institutions like Addis Ababa University have budget expenditures which are "skewed towards salaries and food than academic activities" leaving only about "30-40% of the recurrent budget for the critical 22 elements of academic activities such as research, publication, innovation and postgraduate training.
In addition to challenges pertaining to funding, other reasons provided for the limited research engagement and productivity include: qualitative and quantitative shortages of research staff, limited research infrastructure, lack of clear research priorities and agendas, and inadequate research management and support systems (Kitaw, 2006;MOE, 2015;Weldemichael, 2014;Ishengoma, 2016). Constraints on academic freedom also limit academic staff's aspirations in taking the initiative to conduct research and address critical societal issues (Weldemichael, 2014). Low graduate student enrolment, too, results in limited research outputs since a considerable amount of higher education research is derived from research undertaken by graduate and postgraduate students (MOE, 2015).
In order to improve the quality, quantity, and relevance of research in the country and address the issues mentioned above, a national research undertaking framework is proposed to Furthermore, the status of research specifically focusing on issues pertaining to higher education studies, is a cause of concern, especially considering the need for evidence-based decisions in a system that is undergoing rapid expansion and reform. Out of 1,250 published and unpublished research articles between 1974 -1999, only 57 documents deal with issues related to higher education (Asgedom, 2007). A recent upsurge in higher education studies research, however, is an encouraging development.

INTERNATIONALISATION
Internationalization is one of the major forces shaping higher education in Africa in the 21st century (Jowi, 2009). African universities have begun to acknowledge that internationalization initiatives can no longer be sidelined, but should increasingly be a central part of university activities (Jowi et al., 2013). Like elsewhere on the continent, Ethiopian universities attach a high importance to this phenomenon (Tamrat, 2015;Tamrat & Teferra, 2018 Ethiopian higher education has been the desire to develop globally competitive higher education institutions that meet international quality standards, Tamrat (2015) argues that internationalization initiatives are driven by internal capacity development needs of the 25 expanding higher education sector in the country. The highest level of importance is accorded to engaging in international development projects, strengthening international research collaborations, establishing joint academic programs with international partners, and improving the overall quality and standard of education among the activities outlined above (Tamrat, 2015). The motivations for internationalization that dominate higher education systems in other parts of the world, such as attracting international students and other regional and continental integration issues, do not attract much attention among the country's universities (Tamrat & Teferra, 2018;Tamrat, 2015).
According to a survey of nine public and six private higher education institutions in the country, strengthening teaching and learning, promoting student and teacher development, and enhancing standards and quality were found to be the major perceived advantages gained from internationalization initiatives, in contrast to other perceived benefits like promoting multiculturalism and cultural awareness and enhancing competitiveness, which are frequently stated in the internationalization literature as advantages (Tamrat, 2015). The same survey indicates that the main perceived risks associated with internationalization, according to the respondents, are brain drain, increased costs, and loss of cultural identity.
As far as international collaborative capacity development projects are concerned, Europe is found to be the preferred continent for Ethiopian universities, followed by North America (Tamrat & Teferra, 2018). When it comes to specific countries, Sweden (through SIDA and its research cooperation department, SAREC), the US and Germany take the first three places (Tamrat, 2015). Several Norwegian universities have also been working in partnerships with Ethiopian higher education institutions in agriculture and natural resources management for more than a quarter of a century (Ishengoma, 2016). The Dutch International

Agency for Higher Education (EP-NUFFIC) and the Belgian International Agency for Higher
Education (VLIR-OUS), and the Finnish National Agency for Education also fund 26 transcontinental higher education projects between Ethiopian universities and the ones that are in their respective countries. International agencies like UNESCO and the World Bank also engage in higher education capacity building projects.
Some questions have, however, been raised as to the impact and effectiveness of such collaborations. Lack of institutional directions and strategies is one of the challenges. Many of these collaborations seem to be the products of individual initiatives that are not managed, organized, and communicated systematically at the institutional level (Ayalew, 2017;Tamrat & Teferra, 2018). The fact that the capacity development collaborations are mainly North-South also seems problematic. Power asymmetries, mismatched and incompatible goals between Southern and Northern partners, and well as a lack of long-term perspectives and sustainability issues are also mentioned as possible reasons why such research and capacity building initiatives might not be as effective as intended (Osama, 2008;Ishengoma, 2016).
Tamrat & Teferra (2018)  Lack of strategizing and in this way 'donor-recipient framework' manifested research collaborations between Ethiopian and Northern partners might also lead to the tendency to reproduce "traditional patterns of economic and geographical dependency" (Jowi 2012, p. 51) rendering Ethiopian institutions and researchers relatively powerless (Ali et al. 2006). In addition to strategizing and institutionalizing such internationalization initiatives, assessing the impact of such projects at different levels through effective monitoring and evaluation mechanisms is, therefore, an activity area that deserves more attention.
Apart from international capacity development projects, trans-national collaborative research seems to be one significant aspect of internationalization of higher education in Ethiopia, as it is the case elsewhere. A Web of Science (2017) report that assesses recent trends in higher education research in East African countries between 2007-2016 concludes that the most effective way for Ethiopian higher education institutions and researchers to get more research visibility is actually to collaborate with their international and regional partners through exchanging knowledge and experience.

Source: Web of Science (2017)
According to the report, out of more than 7526 research papers published by Ethiopian researchers between 2007 and 2016, more than 1700 were co-authored with colleagues from the United States, followed by those from the United Kingdom. Ethiopia seems to have the same 'leading' partners as the rest of East African nations. It becomes apparent, however, that the country does not seem to be exploring Intra-East African research collaborations, which countries like Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania are taking advantage of. For instance, it is 28 interesting to note that, for Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania appear on the top ten of its collaborators, and a similar trend is observed for Uganda in that Kenya and Tanzania take two of the spots in the list of its top ten collaborating countries.
Looking at internationalization from the vantage point of international mobility of Ethiopian students, it can be observed that initiatives mainly focus on educating master and Ph.D. students in engineering and health sciences, i.e., disciplines in which the country's higher education system has a considerable shortage of trained personnel (Tamrat & Teferra, 2018;Tamrat, 2015;MOE, 2008 (2017) states that inbound student mobility has a long history in Ethiopia, dating back to the 1950s, when international students from counties like Tanganyika, Kenya, Greece, India, the UK, the former Yugoslavia, and the USA, accounted for 13 % of the student population at Addis Ababa University, there seems to be almost no up-to-date and systematically compiled data on international student mobility to Ethiopia today as Semela and Ayalew (2008)  The presence of international staff seems to be driven by what Tamrat and Teffera (2018) refer to as "emerging needs" of the higher education system, which is to address shortages of personnel for the expanding higher education system (Akalu, 2014;Reisberg & Rumbley, 2015). The development of their presence over five years can be seen in figure 6 below. issues on continuing education, especially at the university level (Semela & Amadi, 2010). The curriculum of continuing education programs in Ethiopian universities is the same as providing regular or so-called 'traditional' students in terms of content, teaching, and assessment methods. Admission requirements are equally inflexible for these programs in that only those who complete pre-university education are eligible to join continuing education programs. This implies sitting for a higher education entrance examination and hence excluded able adults with practical skills and scientific or indigenous knowledge (Semela & Amin, 2010).
Ethiopian universities do not presently feature a system to recognize prior learning, i.e., knowledge and skills acquired at the workplace or home, and "downward linkages," allowing learners to establish equivalence for credentials acquired in community colleges as adult education centers are equally not in place (Semela & Amadi, 2010). In the present public universities' organizational structure, units labeled 'continuing education coordination offices' or 'continuing and distance education coordinating offices' are charged with managing issues related to this aspect of higher education (Mekonnen 2005;Semela & Amadi, 2010). Nevertheless, these offices are frequently under-resourced. They have only a limited degree of autonomy and are often seen as 'appendages' to regular programs despite their considerable student intake.

GRADUATE EDUCATION AND CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT
As a pioneer, Addis Ababa University began offering graduate programs in October 1978 (AAU, 1980;Ayalew, 2017;Bishaw & Melesse, 2017). Since then, graduate studies have been diversified and expanded through other public universities, namely Hawassa, Harramaya, Gondar, and Jimma (Ayalew, 2017). To illustrate the recent expansion of graduate studies,- Molla and Cuthbert (2016) state that, in 1999, there were only 22 Ph.D. students in Ethiopia; that number, however, grew by a factor of 35 to 789 in 2011 (Ayalew, 2017). Between 2011 and 2016, masters and Ph. D. enrolments in the country have increased by more than 30,000 enrolments (MOE, 2017). MoE statistics also indicate that, compared to 2015, in 2016 alone, total graduate enrolments have increased by more than 10,000. As observed in Table 3 below, total graduate enrollment in Ethiopian universities has more than doubled in the past six years.
However, it is worth pointing out that this graduate enrollment expansion is mainly focused on public universities, as is the increase in undergraduate enrolments: in 2016, 84.6% of students registered on graduate programs pursued their studies at government institutions (MOE, 2017). and Niger respectively". The low Ph.D. enrolment is all the more concerning since many of the Ethiopian public universities are aspiring to become research-intensive, and as postgraduate students, especially Ph.D. students, play an essential role in enhancing research productivity (Cloete et al., 2015(Cloete et al., , 2017Taylor, 2006). This concern is also raised by the Ethiopian Ministry Furthermore, student admission policies, specifically the lack of autonomy in institutional decision-making, influence the quality of graduate education and training.
Implemented to address the quantitative as well as qualitative shortage of qualified academic staff in the expanding higher education system, the Ethiopian Ministry of Education has reappropriated institutional affairs in centrally determining who should be admitted to graduate schools in the country (Akalu, 2013(Akalu, , 2014Van Deuren et al., 2015). The academic community criticized this admission strategy for compromising the rigor of entry requirements, among others. For instance, in Addis Ababa University, where the majority of Ethiopian graduate studies are located, Akalu (2014, p. 409) states this admission policy created '" a tug of war" between university departments and MOE.

36
This policy is also criticized for limiting access for qualified self-funded graduate students who are not part of the Ministry selection (Akalu, 2013). The MOE itself saw this criticism as a "targeted attempt to boycott government plans" (Akalu, 2014, p. 409).
Correspondingly perhaps, there is both a lack of student preparedness to undertake graduate research and poor quality supervision in regular and distance graduate studies (Molla & Cuthbert 2016;Woldeyes, 2016;Kahsay, 2015;Mohamedbhai, 2011;Ayalew, 2017). In Addis Ababa University, university staff has a growing concern about "an influx of largely illprepared candidates to universities' programmes" (Akalu, 2014). Underscoring the need to address this challenge, Akalu further elaborates: As one associate professor in Addis Ababa University commented on a growing laxity in postgraduate students' efforts in their studies, he had this to say: 'When you start granting admission to a student in the form of charity, why would he/she study in the first place?' (…)). Another professor similarly bemoaned: I have doctoral students who still want me to provide them handouts ... It is unfortunate that we are teachers at this level. We should not be teachers at masters and PhD levels. Our role must be one of guidance, one of pointing direction. The students should engage in their own readings based on the guidance and direction they receive. (Akalu, 2013, p. 16) Ayalew (2017) also reported general "apathy and reservations" among Addis Ababa University senior professors regarding supervising and mentoring students partly caused by "the less-motivated and underprepared students." Molla and Cuthbert (2016) also raise challenges concerning inefficiency in Ph.D. studies in the country: the rate of Ph.D.
completion is low, and it takes a comparatively long time for students to complete their studies. In 2014, there were around 3,300 doctoral students in the Ethiopian public higher education system, but only 80 graduated with a doctorate in the same year (Molla & Cuthbert, 2016 financing graduate studies in Ethiopian universities (Ayalew, 2017. A considerable amount of the total budget for establishing and expanding master's and Ph.D. programs is acquired from international aid, donor funding, and universities' internal revenue (Ayalew, 2017;Gebremariam, 2010;Wondimu, 2003). Today, Ethiopian universities seem to depend on international partners like SIDA/SAREC, NUFFIC, and NORAD to finance their graduate research initiatives (Ayalew, 2017). As a result, the inability to fund research and graduate studies could leave developing countries like Ethiopia at the mercy of external funding agencies whose priorities determine the priority areas for research and education (Ali et al., 2006).
In general, national graduate education policy and implementation have focussed on widening access through increasing enrolment. Therefore, more nuanced and realistic policy goals, procedures, and frameworks need to be developed to improve the quality of graduate education and research, diversifying the funding base, and promoting equity (Molla & Cuthbert, 2016;Woldeyes, 2016).

CONCLUSION
This chapter set out to discuss the trends, opportunities, and challenges in Ethiopian higher education in the past decades, focusing on the dynamics of the country's higher education in the past ten years. The Ethiopian system has been characterized by substantial state-led expansion and reforms driven by the motivation to use higher education for national development in the past decade. One of the significant strengths of the country's higher education system has been registered in terms of creating more access. As elaborated in this chapter, enrollment figures for both undergraduate and graduate programs have increased, and attempts have been made to meet the expanding system's staffing needs. The country also dedicates more than 40% of its education budget to the sector, and there have been encouraging signs in giving more priority to the research agenda of universities -although, like many other universities on the continent -Ethiopian universities are still heavily leaned towards teaching and learning-oriented at their base. Ethiopian universities are shown to be open to working with donors and international partners in capacity-building projects.
Despite the positive developments outlined above, with a gross enrolment rate of merely 8.1 % (UNESCO, 2015), higher education in Ethiopia remains an 'elite' system when framed by the typology developed by Martin Trow (2007), which puts the minimum threshold for a massified system at 15%. Creating more access, therefore, continues to be a considerable challenge. Enrolment figures also indicate that ensuring equitable access is a matter of concern since present-day higher education in Ethiopia is characterized by the under-representation of especially women, geo-politically marginalized ethnic groups, and people from low socioeconomic backgrounds or peripheral regions and rural areas. A focus on 'massifying' the system is often cited as one reason for lowering education quality.

39
Correspondingly, research indicates that an increase in the number of academic staff does not catch up with the needs of expanding the system, increasing the teaching load for existing staff members. Besides, there is limited academic freedom, increased brain drain, and excessive barriers to human resource and financial management procedures, among others.
When it comes to funding, limited institutional financial autonomy, heavy dependence on state funding, decreasing per-student allocations, and inflexibility of administrative procedures negatively impact the system. Likewise, capacity-building and collaboration projects, which are both significant motivations and manifestations of internationalization of higher education in the country, also need a careful analysis as to how effective they are in terms of impact, sustainability, and relevance. As discussed in this chapter, the potential of higher education as an avenue for continuing education and lifelong learning in Ethiopia needs more exploration, too.
The research function of higher education is equally under-funded as well as underresearched. According to the country's Fifth Education Sector Development Strategy (MOE, 2015), only 1 % of universities' total budget is dedicated to research. This is a cause for concern, given that the prevailing global discourse of the knowledge economy is highly dependent on universities' output as knowledge producers and platforms for innovation. If this aspect is not given due attention, Ethiopian universities are expected to lag regarding research and knowledge production in regional comparison and beyond. The limited intake of graduate students, especially Ph.D. students at as little as 2.5 %, hampers enhancing universities' research capacity. In addition, low completion rates and lengthy study periods face those few enrolled.
As a concluding remark, I would like to mention that one of the challenges I encountered in writing this paper is the lack of systematically archived data to inform the 40 analysis of the various facets of the Ethiopian higher education system. Consequently, I would like to advocate and reiterate the need to monitor benchmark and measure trajectories systematically. Making the data publicly available both at the national and institutional level should be given priority. In particular, this applies to measuring research output and productivity, assessing aspects of internationalization like inbound and outbound student mobility, and accessing information on international research collaborations and capacity development projects. Regarding policy, gaps have been identified in articulating graduate education and research and defining the role universities could play in continuing education and life-long learning. Lastly, it is noteworthy that -though more research is being carried out in various aspects of the system and its institutions-the analysis of national and institutional policy documents and strategies suggests that those outcomes do not seem to have been utilized as inputs to evidence-based higher education policy-making.