Access to quality education is a fundamental human right and a key driver to promote individual progress, transform community, and ensure societal development. Thus, countries strive to provide quality education to their respective citizens as it is instrumental in opening opportunities by equipping citizens with the required knowledge and skills that are crucial to expedite a nation’s overall development.
Realizing that, higher education institutions have greater capacity in generating productive, competitive human capital, over the years, the Ethiopian government has been investing hugely. However, despite the efforts, ensuring quality education remains one of the biggest challenges facing higher education.
Indeed, these days, the government has put in place a number of prolific programs to support high learning institutions with a view to enable them undertake their activities accordingly; address the problem and fill the gaps; at the end of the day shape the future of the country.
In an exclusive interview with The Ethiopian Herald, Lecturer at Kotebe University of Education Amanuel Eremo (PhD) also highlighted the role that universities and colleges could play in ensuring quality education. According to him, education institutions at all levels are duty bound to provide well-rounded education and capacitate students with the knowledge and skills that are necessary to successfully perform a particular task; going above and beyond the usual trend of teaching for the sake of teaching.
“In my view, higher education institutions, without any restraints, should provide students with content that could support them in developing critical thinking, problem-solving capabilities and communication and leadership skills.”
It is true that quality is a dynamic phenomenon that would tune as per the advancement of the nation; and higher education institutions must pay due attention in overcoming challenges and addressing quality related gaps.
According to him, one of the primary ways higher education can maintain quality education is through providing training and professional development courses for their respective teachers.
Such career advancement training courses are game changers in building the knowledge and the skills of teachers by allowing them to stay up to date on the subject matter, the latest teaching practices that support them to be effective in the classroom, in turn boost students’ achievement.
What is more, research works conducted at higher education institutions should focus on curriculum development and teaching methodologies that are exercised in schools. Senior academicians who reached at the cutting edge of their area of fields are expected to develop new knowledge that can be incorporated into the education system and teaching practices that could help in ensuring quality education.
Beyond providing training and conducting research works, higher education institutions should establish partnerships with primary and secondary schools, and provide mentorship and skill enrichment opportunities that supplement classroom instruction to excel academically and achieve the desired outcome.
Whether it is by hosting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) workshops or opening campus facilities for students use, collaborative efforts help raise the overall standard of education. In the same way, higher education institutions have a responsibility to actively engage with their local communities he remarked.
In an era of rapid technological, social, and economic change, the role of higher education in ensuring quality education and producing competitive students has become more important now than before. By cultivating excellent teachers, advancing educational research, and deeply engaging with local school systems, colleges and universities can profoundly impact the quality of learning experiences for students at every level.
To discuss ways to ensure education quality at higher education and translate the effort to the ground, lately, the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences (EAS) had organized public lecture session.
On the occasion, senior academicians stressed the need to introduce quality admission criteria for post-graduate programs and others.
Institute of Educational Research Quality Training Director and Supervisor at the Addis Ababa University, Belay Hagos (PhD) said that, in a move to enhance the quality of higher education, universities should put in place significant changes in students’ admission policies and the introduction of new postgraduate and doctoral degree programs.
He said, “In our context, a number of higher learning institutions follow similar criteria (screening) for the admission of students both postgraduate and doctoral programs. This approach should be corrected. Universities’ student selection process must attract the most talented and motivated individuals using the parameters that focus on academic performance of applicants the achievements they demonstrate in extracurricular activities as well as result achieved at standardized test scores and through conducting personal interviews.”
According to him, a number of higher education institutions operating throughout the country run activities through high political and structural pressures. They should pass through relevant steps and equipped with skilled human capital and facilities. Otherwise, they could potentially be exposed to very trying challenges like lack of capacity so as to ensure quality education, he indicated.
Moderator of the session, Prof. Tsige Gebremariam on his part said that, it is not too late to review and correct the surfaced gaps through scientific approaches. It is high time to revise the admission criteria to universities for postgraduate and doctoral students with a view to attracting the brightest minds and fostering groundbreaking research and innovation that could help nation come out of the vicious circle of poverty, he underlined.
He also urged pertinent stakeholders to invest in education at the grassroots level and support the higher education institutions in providing them with working systems.
Speaking on the occasion Academy’s CEO Prof. Teketel Yohannes for his part noted that, the Academy is committed to organize platforms that focus on education. It is high time to tune the human development line, produce skilled workforce that could ensure nation building.
According to him, the job market and workforce continue to rapidly evolve; there is an increasing pressure on higher education institutions to ensure that their graduates are well-equipped to succeed in this dynamic landscape. To this effect, colleges and universities must adapt their curricula, pedagogies, and student support services to better align with the changing needs of employers and the economy.
Academicians drawn from various universities and attending the program urged stakeholders to revise student admission and program opening criteria peculiarly regarding postgraduate and doctoral degrees.
BY MENGISTEAB TESHOME
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD TUESDAY 16 JULY 2024
