College  of  Education and Behavioral Sciences (CEBS) of Haramaya University (HU) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MoE) within its Education Sector Development Program graduated a total of 117 primary school female leader candidates after a three-month successful training for the 2^nd time on June 12, 2018 at the Main Campus

On the graduation ceremony, Dr. Dawit Negassa, Dean of the College, said, “We are honored and proud to be part of the grand initiative taken by the Ethiopian Government in collaboration with the World Bank in reversing the under representation of women in educational leadership by taking an initiative to increase female leaders from 9.3% to 12.3 by training 1000 female leaders in 2009 E.C (which already succeeded 100%) and from 12.3 to 21.9 by training 3740 female leaders in 2010 E.C  for primary schools with ultimate goal of producing female leaders who will assume 50% of the leadership positions in the Ethiopian schools.”

Furthermore, he added, “As one of the 11 universities selected based on their capacities and track records for providing such trainings, our university has contributed to this grand initiative by providing the training in two rounds for 294 females selected from the East and West Hararghe zones of Oromia, Afar and Harari Regions and Dire Dawa City Administration.

He pointed out that “We are extremely pleased that majority of the first-round trainees are already assigned in leadership positions and are currently working as educational leaders, setting examples for the current and next generations by influencing the patriarchal system of education we have by using the wisdom, knowledge, skills, insights, and confidence as a weapon they have developed during their training here in the University.

In his welcoming speech, Prof. Nigussie Dechassa, Vice-president for Academic Affairs said that “gender mainstreaming is a globally recognized strategy which aims to bring about gender equality and advance women’s rights. Gender equality is achieved when women and men enjoy the same rights and opportunities across all sectors of society, including economic participation and decision-making, and when the different behaviors, aspirations and needs of women and men are equally valued and favored.”

He added that all the universities emphasize certain measures, for instance, in recruitment, but are weak on support and gender-friendly environment. There is little or no support, either academic or leadership oriented, once they joined universities.

During the graduation program, Mr. Habtamu Menber, Coordinator of the Training Program, said that the trainees had been equipped with the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudinal changes in leadership and management. The Coordinator forwarded his message to the graduates to work hard in their future endeavors and be a model for girls in primary schools in the leadership aspect. The training packages included issues in School Leadership and Management, Policy, Cross Cutting Issues, and Basics of ICT and Education Management Information System (EMIS).

Delegates of MoE, Harari, Dire Dawa, East Hararaghe, Regional Education TDP Heads, and the University’s different level management bodies attended the graduation ceremony.

All graduates appreciated and gave many thanks to the university and indicated that they were happy with the training program and the multitude of knowledge obtained from the training. The graduates also said that the training was crucial in bridging the gap they had in relation with leadership.

Finally, the graduation ceremony was closed by presenting certificates for the graduates, and trainers who delivered the training by Prof. Nigussie Dechassa and Dr. Dawit Negassa.

Haramaya University Institute of Technology (HiT) hosted an international conference themed “Recent Trends on Electrical and Computer Technologies” at the University’s Main Campus on June 20, 2018.

In his welcoming speech, Mr. Atli Lemma, Instructor at the Institute and the Coordinator of the Conference, said that “The objective of the conference is to bring together industry, academia, and government bodies regionally and internationally to communicate and collaborate yielding professional interaction and knowledge transfer to promote socio-economic development. And also to promote scientific and educational activities and collaborations between national and interactional universities, industries and government agencies through research presentations.”

Prof. Nigussie Dechassa, Vice-president for Academic Affairs, in his opening speech, said that “Universities predominately engaged in teaching agricultural sciences should not forget that research should also be done in multi-disciplines, including, social sciences, engineering, IT, and all others.

He added that, “We have to infuse new energy, motivation and commitment into electrical and computer engineering research for result-oriented outcome. We need to do cutting edge and impactful research and come up with home-grown innovations and recommendations to tackle the problems of our society faces in terms of new technologies. We need to work cohesively in partnerships with each other by exploiting our synergies.”

On the occasion, the participants have underlined the importance of consolidating prior knowledge, researches and interventions pertaining to the modern electrical and computing technologies, creating a concrete partnership among stakeholders (the universities and industries) and generating knowledge and innovation specifically aiming at improving the livelihood of the society and the need for electric power in industries and homes as well as a reliable communication system, since it is becoming the basic need for development and modernization, according to Mr. Ibsa Mohamed and Mr. Atli Lemma from HiT, Dr. Fikreselam Gared from Bahir Dar University IOT, Mr. Negassa Muleta from Dire Dawa University.

Furthermore, Dr. Abdisa Jebessa, Acting Scientific Director of HiT, expressed his gratitude to the reviewers and the conference participants for the constructive comments and suggestions forwarded to shape the content, and appreciated and sincerely acknowledged the efforts put by conference organizers, participants and research presenters and underlined the importance of continuing researches to develop innovative electrical and computer engineering technologies, and developing the network of professionals on the area.

The conference was organized by Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and the event was attended by University staff, senior professionals from Addis Ababa, Bahir Dar, Jimma,

Mekele, Meda Wolabu, Debre Tabor, Dire Dawa universities. Five research papers in different areas were presented and each of the presentations was followed by academic discussions.

College of Education and Behavioral Sciences hosted a National Conference themed “Quality of Education in Ethiopia: Practices, Challenges and Prospects” on June 23, 2018 at the University’s Resource Center.

The conference  covered Quality Enhancement and Assurance in Education, Research in Education, Teacher Education and Development; Adult Education and Community Development; Curriculum Development, Implementation and Evaluation; Educational Planning, Leadership and Management; Contemporary Issues in Psychology for Education Development; Special Needs and Inclusive Education; Student Motivation, Engagement and Academic Achievement; Early Childhood care, Development and Education; School Improvement Program and Continuous Professional Development; and Science and Mathematics Education in Ethiopia.

Dr. Dawit Negassa, Dean of the College, in his opening speech said, “The conference is very crucial for the improvement of Higher Education Quality assurance and quality audit.” He further added that such conference is a land mark in the quality assurance of higher education.

Dr. Dawit also added, “Good quality education is increasingly recognized as an important foundation for economic growth and is instrumental in the attainment of other development objectives.”

On the occasion, Prof. Nigussie Dechasa, Vice-president for Academic Affairs, stated that quality of education has become a controversial issue internationally. He said, “It [education quality] is an elusive concept that has as many definitions as there are categories of stakeholders. Many definitions of quality in education exist, testifying to the complexity and multifaceted nature of the concept.”

The conference was organized with the objectives to improve the management of the education system to increase institution performance and student achievement; to improve the quality of general education in order to motivate children to complete primary and secondary school and provide them with the knowledge, skills and values that would help them become productive and responsible citizens; to give all children access to pre-primary education for school preparedness and access to nearby institutions where they can complete full eight years of primary education and two years of general secondary education; to create a learning society by providing adult and non-formal education related to lifelong learning opportunities that will contribute to personal, societal and economic development; to produce a lower-and middle-level, competent, motivated, adaptable and innovative workforce; to produce competent graduates who possess appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes; to promote knowledge and technology transfer based on national development and community needs through research; and to ensure that education and research promote principles of freedom in exchange of views and opinions based on reason, democratic and multicultural values.

Delegates from higher institutions, researchers, policy makers, top government officials and staffs were in attendance and more than eight papers were presented. It was organized to create a platform for stakeholders’ discussion on improving the quality of education and teacher training. Over 50 participants including Haramaya University Academic staffs and instructors, East & West Hararghe Zone, Harari Regional State, Dire Dawa Administrative Educational Office Heads, Instructors from near surrounding College of Teacher Education, School Directors and Teachers participated.

The eight presentations were made by staff members from Bahir Dar, Debre Tabor, Debre Markos, Mekele, Addis Ababa, Dila, Hawassa, Dire Dawa universities and Dire Dawa City Administration, and East and West Haraghe Education Offices.

Participants of the conference stated that ‘hence the quality education plays a vital role in the national development endeavor of our country, in order  to insure the quality of education, it should be started from lower level classes, handling teachers to stay in teaching and improving teachers’ quality should given special attention by concerned body and stake holders.’

Higher Diploma Program (HDP) Coordinating Office of College of Education and Behavioral Sciences conducted the First Round Moderation National  Workshop from June 25-27, 2018 at Resource Center.

According to Mr. Anwar Ahmed, coordinator of the workshop, “HDP was initiated based on the premise that those who educate the teachers must themselves be of high quality, be highly competent and be educated for the specifics of their role to produce better teachers and to improve the learning of all students in Ethiopia.” He added, “The more people know the more they can do. The better-educated staff the better able they will be in undertaking quality improvement. It is the quality of the teacher that ultimately influences the quality of education.”

Dr. Dawit Negassa, Dean of the College, in his welcoming speech said, “As part of the initiatives to improve the quality of education in Ethiopia, the Higher Diploma Program (HDP) was started in October 2003 in all of the then 21 teacher education institutes including Haramaya University as a compulsory qualification for all teacher educators. An extensive study was conducted by the Ministry of Education through TESO (Teacher Education System Overhaul) covering the overall education system of Ethiopia and teacher’s education programs in particular.” He added that the moderation workshop was a continuation of the already established network among these TEIs to exchange ideas, share experiences, identify challenges and set directions for the future.

A total of 13 selected action research papers were presented in the workshop (four from HU, three from Jigjiga University, two each from Chiro and Kabri Dahar College of Teacher Education (CTEs) and two from Dire Dawa University).

Government office representatives, professionals from various fields and other TEIs like Jigjiga and Dire Dawa universities, and Chiro, Abdul Mejid Hussien, Harar, Kabri Dahar, and Dire Dawa CTEs, participated on the workshop.

Department of Adult Education and Community Development under the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences conducted an external curriculum review workshop to launch a new program in “Curriculum and Teachers’ Professional Development Studies” in an undergraduate level in 2011 E.C on June 29, 2018 at Resource Center.

Prof. Nigussie Dechassa, Vice-president for Academic Affairs, on his opening speech said, “The College of Education and Behavioral Sciences is progressing rapidly by registering achievements in diversifying programs at all levels by offering quality programs in the fields of study that are among priority agenda of University’s.”  “These programs,” he said, “Would contribute to the human resource capacity building of the University.”

The University has been designing and launching need-based curricula to cater to the needs of students and industries that seek trained manpower in the country. According to Prof. Nigussie, the start of the new program in “Curriculum and Teacher’s Professional Development Studies” at undergraduate level is a significant milestone to the University. The development of this curriculum is ‘indicative of the hitherto achievement and strive in running the program as a whole. Education is the most powerful weapon for equipping people with the necessary knowledge, skill and attitude to be able to derive the vision to development. So that, to fulfill a quality education motivation and commitment is highly required.

On the Occasion Dr. Dawit Negassa, Dean of the College, briefly presented the steps followed by the College to develop the draft curriculum of the program and he said the staff members of the Department have made a commendable job of conducting consultations and close discussions with concerned stakeholders like the MoE, Oromia Regional Education Bureau, Strategic Education Center, Hawassa, Dilla, and Bahir Dar universities; conducted need assessment and developed the first draft curriculum based on the assessment; and organized an in-house curriculum review workshop. In preparation for this national review workshop, the Department incorporated the comments offered by the internal reviewers within a short period of time, identified external reviewers and sent them the revised version of the curriculum.

Highly productive discussions were made in the three syndicate groups and concerns were shared by critically looking in to the preparedness and facilities to launch the program as planned. Particularly, the staff profile of the respective department was taken seriously and strong suggestions were made to make sure that the required faculty is fulfilled.

Finally, Dr. Yilfashewa Yifru, Director of Academic Program Development, thanked and appreciated the concerns and contributions of the reviewers, and said the program will be launched after incorporating all the valuable comments from the renowned professionals in the field.

Haramaya University’s Career Development Service Directorate conducted a Job Fair Expo and Panel Discussion with this year’s graduating students and potential employers from June 28-29, 2018 at University’s Afran Kallo Hall and Resource Center.

During the opening ceremony of exhibition, Mr. Dejene Geshe, Director for the CDSD, said, “The Career Development Service Directorate was established very recently; nonetheless, it has done lots of activities so far in collaboration with Ethio-jobs. The core mission of the Directorate is to develop skills and knowledge of the students to make them competent on job market and the Job Fair is also one of the core activities planned to be accomplished by the Directorate.”

According to Mr. Dejene, the program aspires to achieve major objectives such as increasing the employability of the fresh graduates by exposing them to practical experience about the needs and interests of potential employers; giving chance to fresh graduates to identify potential employers in the country; promoting the image of the university to employers and media outlets in the country; and helping the Directorate observe skill-gaps of the graduates and devise different trainings to bridge these gaps.

Prof. Nigussie Dechassa, Vice-president for Academic Affairs, in his key note speech pointed out the relevance of the recently signed contractual agreement with ethio-jobs and how it would increase employability for graduates. In addition to this, the University has also been conducting different soft skill trainings to graduating students adding to exposing them to practical experiences such as internships, field trips and so on.

Among the graduating students, Fikadu Girma from Civil Engineering, Abreham Getachew from Sociology departments said the exhibition was very important and has motivated them. The interactions they had with the potential employers and knowing their interests was very helpful to prepare their CV and apply for jobs, and makes the process of searching for job a lot simpler.

The second day saw a panel discussion with company owners and stakeholders. On the occasion, participants addressed the problems that hinder the quality of education and the lack of performance of fresh graduates as well as the needs and interests of potential employers in the country at all levels.

Director for University-Industry Linkage organized and delivered training on “Entrepreneurship as a Career Option” to more than 2500 graduating students of 2018. The students were drown from 8 colleges including HiT and it took place from June 24-July 4, 2018 in Afran Kallo Hall. The training was delivered by invited professional trainers from Entrepreneurship Development Center (EDC), Addis Ababa.

According to Dr. Mitiku Eshetu, Director for University-Industry Linkage and Entrepreneurship Development, the objective of the training was “To develop entrepreneurial skills of our graduates so that they can create their own business in their field of specialization. In this training more than 2500 graduate students participated and the training was successfully conducted even though there was some overlap with other activities of the University such as the Job Fair Expo, and ongoing junior students’ examination which leads to lack of training rooms. Moreover, some students were presenting project reports and could not attend the training as per the schedule. To overcome these problems we allowed the students to attend missed sessions by delivering the training in different rounds for different colleges and HiT,” said Dr. Mitiku.

The Director also indicated that as of the upcoming academic year such trainings will be given in different modalities in which awareness about entrepreneurship and business incubation will be given for first year students to prepare and motivate them to develop business plan/projects and compete for awards.

The plan is to have trainings that will be given at different level and invite students for competition by developing business plan and technologies. Different forums will be organized to engage students for development of innovative business/technology ideas and incubation.

The feedback of the trainees indicated that the training was very important and brought about development of right attitude towards self-employment and business creation. Because of the large number of graduates from different universities in the country, getting employment is becoming difficult. Hence, such training will play paramount importance in enabling graduates to create their own business and be successful entrepreneurs.

Haramaya University has graduated students in different fields of studies on July 14, 2018 in a colorful ceremony held at the university’s Afren Kello hall in the morning and afternoon shifts.

The ceremony was held in the presence of distinguished guests and families of the graduates. Of the total graduates, 43 of them were PhD graduates, 810 were Masters, 1178 in Postgraduate Diploma and Certificate and 6121 in First degree. Among the total graduates 24.64 % were female students.

Prof. Nigussie Dechassa, Vice President for Academic Affairs of the university, while addressing an opening remark, has welcomed the invited guests and families of the graduates. Prof. Nigussie has also conveyed his best wishes to the graduating students.

Delegated President, Vice-President for Research Affairs of Haramaya University, Dr. Jemal Yesuf , has welcomed W/O Teyiba Hassen , Vice President of Oromia National Regional State and Ato Sileshi Getahun, Chair person of the Administrative Board.

Dr. Jemal has congratulated the graduates on their special achievements. He has also welcomed and congratulated parents, teachers and families of the graduates for being able to see their children and students achievements.

Dr. Jemal has also made a comprehensive speech about the university’s academic, research and community service activities performed for 6 decades. He has also conveyed a message to the graduate students on how they would become successful in their future career.

Guest of Honour of the ceremony, W/O Teyba Hassen, Vice President of Oromia National Regional State has congratulated the graduates, parents and teachers.

Speaking on the occasion, she said, “As it is known, education plays prominent roles in creating and shaping democratic and responsible citizens”. She has also emphasized that education is a key to achieve the aspiration for the overall development of the country.

Bedada Girma, President of Haramaya University Students’ Union has expressed his best wishes on the success of this year’s graduates. In his speech, Bedada said,  “Hardworking is not over when you are graduated, it is just a break as you enter the new battle fields of life.”

During the ceremony, honorable Doctoral degrees were given to Ato Gedu Andargachew, President of the Amhara National Regional State and to a prominent journalist Obbo Mohammed Ahmed (Mohammed Kophee).

Eventually, the ceremony was on air on the University’s community radio, HU FM 91.5.

Office of the Vice-president for Research Affairs celebrated Tony Day for the third time on July 17, 2018 at the University’s Dire Dawa Tony Farm.

The Office has organized this event in order to appreciate the workers on their hard work and to have a discussion on issues of concerns.

According to Mr. Shibiru Wakjira, Dire Dawa Tony Farm Site Manager, this year alone 3800 citrus family seedlings have been made available to the surrounding community. The farm has been serving as a research site and demonstration field for Haramaya University researchers and students as well as different projects.

Many projects, regional agricultural offices and organizations working on agriculture and related fields have taken seedlings and varieties of many crops, vegetables and fruits because of the good performance and quality produces they have found at the farm.

The farm has added mango and spinach researches this year. In previous trials mango research has been a failure in Dire Dawa and its surrounding areas. Areas surrounding Eror have been ideal for mango production. But with the introduction and adoption of new mango varieties, the site is hoping for a fruitful result.

The Chaya research was first initiated by a Mrs. Bekelu who brought the spinach variety to the University’s attention. This variety has vitamin A, B, C, and K and other minerals and it is used as a salad in many western countries. The variety has not been released to the community’s consumption as research is being conducted on it.

Issues of uniform, border issues with Dire Dawa University and overtime payments were some of the issues raised by the farm workers. Dr. Nega Assefa, Delegate of the Office of the Research Affairs, and Mr. Desta Reta from Human Resource Management and Development Directorate gave responses and promised to bring some of the issues to the appropriate bodies in the University’s administration

The US Embassy Access Michroscholarship Fund presentation day was conducted on Saturday 21^st July in the Haramaya University Resource Center. The fund sponsors 75 students from the areas surrounding Haramaya and Harar, who are academically exemplary, to receive English language tuition given by Haramaya University English instructors over a period of two years.

On Saturday, six groups from among the students gave presentations on various topics they had selected; social media, environmental pollution, gender equality, conflict resolution and addiction. The students had prepared the presentation with the help of their teachers over a period of two weeks intensive training.

The event was organised and conducted by Mr. Melkamu Alemu the HU English Language Improvement Center coordinator who runs the Access project on behalf of the US Embassy. Dr. Alemayehu Getachew , Head of the School of Foreign Language Studies gave the opening speech in which he lauded the achievements of the Access project students and teachers and welcomed the special guest, Mr. Wondimalem Geneti, Cultural Affairs Assistant at the US Embassy in Ethiopia.

Each group of students had up to 20 minutes to give a presentation on their research around the topic. The quality of the presentations appeared very high as some groups had conducted interviews in the community and engaged in clean-up operations of the local environment before the big day. There were panel discussions, interview films, appeals for change from the student speakers and even a drama film made by the group discussing the problems of addiction.

The competition judges, Mr. Yenene Wobetu and Mr. Israel Kassa, awarded first prize to the addiction group from Harar for their efforts, second prize to the speakers on Gender Equality from Haramaya, and third prize to the group investigating conflict resolution, also from Haramaya. The students thanked their teachers, parents and the Access Microscholarship Fund organisers for their hard work and showed that the project, which is due to continue for one more year, is really having a beneficial impact on the education of students in and around Haramaya University.