The case for an Ethiopian research university

Should developing countries dedicate their resources and energy towards building excellence-oriented research universities or towards creating a mass system through widening access to higher education and training?

This was a question of fierce debate between experts at a 2012 symposium – Tertiary Education in Emerging Markets – organised by the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The same issue was debated at the 2015 African Higher Education Summit in Dakar, Senegal. It has featured in many subsequent discussions – and not just in Africa, given the squeeze on resources for higher education.

Although not explicitly articulated, the issue of higher education priorities looms over Ethiopian higher education. Back in 2003, the World Bank’s country study on Ethiopia recommended that it needed to set up a “national research university specialising in graduate training”.

However, due to its ideological commitment to mass education, the Ethiopian government has continued to focus on expansion, with no significant progress being made towards the establishment of a research university.

The concept of a research university

Professor Philip Altbach considers a research university as a concept rather than just an institution – a concept with academic staff and students at its centre who are committed to pursuing knowledge through teaching and basic and applied research.

In order to fulfil its mission to create and disseminate knowledge, a research university needs facilities and infrastructure that will enable teaching and research at the highest level.

Research universities are characterised as sitting at the apex of a differentiated academic system where they have access to the best of talent both in their staff and student population. They are resource-intensive institutions, often publicly financed, with multiple missions and complex governance processes underpinned by stringent meritocratic procedures.

Although a research university is expensive to establish and maintain, and complex to manage, there are reasons why having one is vital for the Ethiopian higher education system.

While the general reasons given to justify research universities in developing countries also apply to the Ethiopian case, there are more specific practical ones which apply to Ethiopia:

• • Research as a driver of economic development: Research focused on knowledge and technology transfer consistent with the priority areas of the country is identified as one of the objectives of higher education in the 2009 higher education proclamation. This is further elaborated in the Fifth Education Sector Development Programme, which is a component of the grand national Growth and Transformation Plan.
  
  This calls for a strong well-resourced institution with qualified staff and a solid commitment to research. This institution will have to be the leader of similar efforts in other universities and non-university research institutions. In other words, it serves as the national hub for coordinated research activities.
  
  
• • Entrepreneurship and (small) business development: The central tenet of Ethiopia’s economic development plan focuses on the development of small businesses in areas that contribute to the overall transformation of the economy, from agriculture to manufacturing and industry.
  
  Therefore, an institution that undertakes research for technology adaptation and development and for the incubation of business ideas is indispensable.
  
  
• • Improving the quality of higher education: Ethiopian higher education is seriously challenged by poor quality provision. The current practice of using poor quality graduates as academic and research staff is nothing more than recycling mediocrity.
  
  With the continuing expansion of higher education, an institution that offers high quality graduate education to the top students could be a way of supplying newly established universities with qualified staff.
  
  
• • Mitigating the effect of brain drain: The outflow of young talent and highly trained scholars could be partly mitigated by offering them a local institutional base that can provide the opportunity to participate in the global scientific community while addressing local challenges.
  
  The growing number of students sitting international examinations and institutions that provide tutorial and facilitation services is evidence of the fact that more and more people are looking for better institutions elsewhere.
  
  
• • Engaging with the intellectual diaspora: Although a considerable number of members of the Ethiopian diaspora in developed countries work in academic and research institutions, their contribution to Ethiopian higher education does not match their potential impact.
  
  This could be, among other things, because of the absence of strong research-oriented institutions that can offer a comparable working environment for returnees while allowing them to remain connected with the global community of experts in their respective fields. Such an experience of engagement with a local research university that adds value to their professional development could promote greater involvement from those in the diaspora.
  
  
• • More partnerships and more research funding: One of the requirements for possible partnerships with foreign institutions is the existence of a capable institution on the Ethiopian side. This is more important for research partnerships with potentially considerable funding opportunities from foreign sources.
  
  By developing a research university with a clearly articulated research agenda and capable staff, it would be much easier to access research funding and to further enhance the country’s research capacity through engagement with international partners.

Challenges

Although there are such compelling reasons for establishing a research university for Ethiopia, there are also challenges that deserve serious attention. For example, the current higher education landscape is far from ideal for the development of research universities and there is also a perceptible lack of commitment to the idea.

While most of the recommendations in the 2003 World Bank study were implemented, it took more than12 years for the idea of establishing a research university to be addressed by government in its 2016-20 higher education plan.

Even then, the plan simply stated that by 2020 there would be three research universities. These universities (presumably already existing institutions) are not named, but will need to have at least 20% of students enrolled on graduate programmes and 50% of their academic staff will have to have PhDs or equivalent qualifications.

However, no further detail has been offered about how these targets will be achieved – for instance, what resources will be involved or what reform measures need to be taken.

The current state of affairs in Ethiopian higher education does not appear to support such research-intensive universities. As of 2012 the average expenditure on research was about 1% of the total budget of all universities. This is targeted to reach 5% by 2020. The national average of academics with a third degree is 15% and the percentage of graduate students is about 5.2%, both of which fall far behind the 50% and 20% targets respectively.

Transforming established universities into proper research universities will definitely require a great deal of government support. It may require painful measures, such as restructuring and laying off employees, which will require a strong political commitment on the part of the government.

Research universities typically require institutional autonomy over the development and management of their programmes, the direction of research, the generation of resources and the management of their internal affairs. This will present another challenge for Ethiopia since centralised control is one of the idiosyncrasies of the Ethiopian higher education system.

Finally, the conflation of research universities with the idea of world-class universities and the association of the latter with the current fad for global rankings, presents another, but less important, attitudinal challenge. This misconception leads to the perception that research universities are a luxury in comparison with the major challenges facing the Ethiopian higher education system such as access, equity and quality.

Developing a research university

It is imperative that Ethiopia develops at least one research university that can lead and coordinate the national research agenda. There are worthwhile benefits to be had from doing so.

However, it requires a genuine commitment by the government in terms of resource allocation as well as political will. Any investment in research universities might not produce an immediate return.

However, in the long term, research universities will play a crucial role in the socio-economic development of the country. It is therefore high time that Ethiopia reconsiders its higher education priorities and moves from expanding to strengthening its existing institutions and, in particular, invests in developing research universities.

Ayenachew A Woldegiyorgis is a research assistant based at the Center for International Higher Education, Boston College, United States. Email: woldegiy@bc.edu