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There is a massive higher education expansion in Ethiopia. However, the efforts to expand higher education are characterized by great opportunities and significant challenges. The current higher education policy formulation and practice are the result of long history of traditional education in Ethiopia, the western countries' influence and the current opportunities and challenges observed in the sector. Thus, to formulate and enact workable higher education policy in Ethiopia, one must understand the trends of higher education in Ethiopia with emphasis on purposes, challenges and achievements. The article, therefore, tries to pinpoint the history of Ethiopian higher education and concludes with recommendations for current efforts to improve higher education in the country.

This research focuses on investigating the contribution of school culture to students' academic achievement. To this end, a mixed research approach was used. 82 teachers, 258 students, 5 school principals, and 3 school cluster supervisors were the data sources of this study. To see the contribution of school culture to students' academic achievement, questionnaire for students and teachers, interview with school principals and cluster supervisors were used. Percentages and one sample ttest were used to analyze the data. The quantitative data confirmed that the contribution of school culture to students' academic achievement was found statistically significant but slightly above the expected mean. Qualitative data from the respondents showed strong communication among stakeholders during the implementation process. The support system from teachers and other responsible bodies were seen as effective. A guideline that specifies teachers' responsibility and the program implementation process, such as continuous follow-up and supervision were reported relevant and triggering teachers to live up to the minimum teachers' professional commitment standard. Generally, both the qualitative and quantitative data analysis results revealed a moderate level contribution of school culture to students' academic achievement. As this result was not much encouraging, appropriate strategies of enhancing the contribution of school culture to students' academic achievement were pointed out in the paper.

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This study examined the extent to which Primary Schools of Fagita Lekoma Woreda implement teachers’ CPD and its impact to quality in education. Data were collected from teachers, school principals, and woreda education office supervisors. Questionnaire and interview were used as the data gathering tools of the study. The quantitative data was analyzed using percentage and one sample t-test. The qualitative data was analyzed via thematic description. The findings confirmed that the respondents’ level of agreement regarding the implementation of teachers’ CPD was found significantly greater than the expected mean (3) in some parameters of the implementation of CPD (e.g., teachers' access to new ideas (3.48), teachers' state of sharing experiences (3.44), and teachers' professional interaction (3.48)). But, there was no significant difference between the expected mean (3) and the calculated means of the other parameters (e.g., attention given for teachers true learning (3.15), focus on staff professional development (3.10), pursuit for improved teaching and learning (3.06), teachers' engagement into continuous professional development (3.31), the match between professional development provision and professional needs (3.08), conceptualization of professional development (2.92), being insensitive of matching of staff development opportunities to individual concerns (2.75), effort made to relate learning experiences to work place conditions (2.88), and teachers’ engagement into professional development that promotes inquiry, creativity, and innovation (3.04)). The aggregate calculated mean value of extent of CPD implementation (3.14) also showed insignificant difference from the expected mean (3). Moreover, it was confirmed that there was no significant difference between the expected mean and the calculated means of all the parameters of the impact of CPD implementation on quality in education of primary schools of the woreda. Having considered the above major findings, relevant recommendations were forwarded in the recommendation section of this article.