Women groomed to take up future leadership roles

In a rare initiative aimed at grooming women leaders, the Ethiopian Institute of Higher Education has recently initiated leadership training targeting 150 women drawn from nearly all the public universities across the Ethiopian public higher education sector.

The Ethiopian Institute of Higher Education is Ethiopia’s premier training institution accountable to the Higher Education Strategy Center, which was set up by the government to generate a national strategy and a long-term plan to enhance the functions of higher education institutions.

The institute operates closely with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, which oversees all higher education institutions in the country.

The recruitment of trainees for the new project was facilitated by the ministry and the institute, while the technical and financial support was provided by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

BMZ has played a significant role in the establishment of the Ethiopian Institute of Higher Education and has been at the forefront of efforts to enhance the skills of Ethiopian higher education leaders by providing its continued assistance through its Sustainable Training and Education Programme.

Notwithstanding its successful journey in graduating about 300 middle-level leaders (deans and department heads) since its establishment in 2018, the institute’s previous training opportunities had limitations in terms of enlisting a limited number of women.

The institute’s exclusive focus on women trainees is expected to bridge this gap and address the future needs of the sector, which craves improved gender representation.

The training, planned for three successive sessions within a three-month period, started with a first session from 9-16 August 2021.

For years, and through policy directions and specific regulations, Ethiopian institutions of higher learning have been encouraged to augment the number of women leaders at all management levels.

For instance, the 2019 Higher Education Proclamation, the legislative blueprint for the sector, dictates increasing the proportion of women in senior positions as a criterion by which higher education institutions are evaluated.

A leadership recruitment guideline, developed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education for universities, similarly provides clear directions about gender parity in leadership appointments at all levels of the governance structure.

However, the proper implementation of these policies still leaves much to be desired since the recruitment and selection processes across universities still exhibit variations and gaps.

The status quo

Despite some strides made over the years, the Ethiopian higher education sector still remains a male business both at the level of university instructors and leaders.

Data for the past three years indicate that only 9.6% (in 2017-18), 11.4% (in 2018-19), and 10.6% (in 2019-20), of women assumed executive management positions across Ethiopia’s 45 public universities.

Despite the relative increase over the past few years, the participation of women leaders at middle-level positions remains very low.

The middle-level positions within the public higher education sector include the positions of scientific director, vice scientific director, executive director, managing director, programme director, dean, vice dean and other equivalent positions.

The figure for the past three years indicates that the share of women leaders at this level is 8.3% (in 2017-18), 10.1% (in 2018-19), and 15.0% (in 2020-21), respectively.

Within the administrative wing of public universities, the share of women assuming positions of general director, deputy directorate, unit head or team leader and coordinator is improving but still requires further changes.

In the academic years of 2017-18 and 2019-20 there were 35.8%, 36.7%, and 38.1% leaders in these middle-management positions.

The limited participation of women leaders at tertiary level is influenced by a variety of factors that include the number of female students at this level. For instance, the share of female students in regular undergraduate programmes of public universities for the past three years has been 36%, 36.8% and 36.2%, respectively.

In a similar vein, the share of postgraduate female students in regular programmes at public universities in the past three years was 18.7%, 19.2% and 20.2%, respectively. This is substantially lower than the 35% envisaged by the government’s plan.

Women, as a share of enrolment in PhD programmes, are again far smaller, with only 8.6%, 10.3% and 11.6% of total enrolment for the past three years. Again, this is significantly off the government’s target of 20%.

In addition to their limited representation, factors such as stereotyping, patriarchy, unconscious bias and the lack of support systems at work continue to impede women’s participation in leadership positions at Ethiopian higher education institutions.

There have been limited efforts in addressing these challenges in a systematic way and across the whole sector.

Training components

The unique feature of the Ethiopian Institute of Higher Education’s new training scheme is its exclusive focus on women instructors who are expected to take future leadership positions.

The process of selection has been competitive, perhaps indicating the huge interest toward the opportunity – again a unique experience in a context in which many shun leadership responsibilities.

The training involves a variety of modules that aim at introducing trainees to the themes, theories and practices of higher education leadership.

With both global and national dimensions incorporated, the modules designed include curriculum development and management, foundations of higher education, leadership and governance, globalisation, internationalisation and partnership, quality management, strategic management, human resource management and project and research management.

The training also incorporates critical modules such as change management, diversity management and conflict management that help leaders address topical issues and current challenges of the system.

The institute’s list of trainers also includes two Ethiopian university female professors with extensive experience as instructors as well as higher education leaders who are vice-presidents.

In addition to the skills training, trainees are provided with the opportunity to stay together, know each other and share their experiences both in and out of class.

This has encouraged the first cohort of trainees to establish a formal network in order to connect with each other and other similar platforms that promote successful women leadership within the sector.

The way forward

Given increasing evidence that more women executives in an organisation means better performance, the lack of women’s representation in the Ethiopian higher education sector is a problematic state of affairs, both from a social justice and an organisational perspective.

As the sector is moving slowly towards better gender diversity, the new Ethiopian Institute of Higher Education initiative is expected to make a contribution towards grooming future women leaders and creating the needed capacity within the system.

Initiatives of this sort are essential, but what is more critical is improving the environment in which women work, which requires understanding their challenges and providing them with opportunities and support, successive training, coaching and mentoring to help them achieve future leadership roles.

While universities should be commended for recruiting and sending trainees, they should be proactive in terms of preparing a succession plan that gives enough space for women trainees to be part of the future leadership scheme the sector aspires to achieve.

The ministry’s supervisory role and continuous support are also critical for the success of this sectoral and noble initiative.

It is equally important that women leaders recognise the huge challenges they are facing in an environment that has been dominated by a male culture, with little appreciation for the new changes and reforms.

Above all, women should realise that changes cannot happen in the absence of their own successive efforts and struggle.

Wondwosen Tamrat is an associate professor and founding president of St Mary’s University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a collaborating scholar of the Programme for Research on Private Higher Education at the State University of New York at Albany, United States, and coordinator of the private higher education sub-cluster of the Continental Education Strategy for Africa. He may be reached at preswond@smuc.edu.et or wondwosen@gmail.com.