Internationalization of Ethiopian Higher Education Institutions: Manifestations of a Nascent System

Abstract

The changing landscape of higher education over the past few decades has increasingly brought internationalization to the fore as one major manifestation of the educational systems of both developed and developing countries alike. As part of this global trend, the Ethiopian higher education sector has, in the past decade, begun to exhibit some of the emerging trends of internationalization despite the paucity of data that portray the phenomenon in an organized manner. This study was conducted to address the prevailing deficiencies with particular focus on identifying the dominant manifestations of internationalization in Ethiopia’s public and private higher education institutions. Data were drawn from nine public and six private institutions using questionnaire and focus group discussion. The major findings of the study revealed that institutions consider internationalization as an important activity for the purposes of promoting teaching and resource mobilization, international research projects, and academic quality and standards. However, in most of the surveyed universities, internationalization was found to be more of an ad hoc and reactive process than a systematically administered proactive undertaking. On the basis of the findings that portray the features of a nascent system, the need for cohesive policies, strategic directions, and operational efficiencies both at national and institutional levels has been projected.

Double Agendas in International Partnership Programs: A case study from an Ethiopian University

“…In line with this, universities are expected to emphasise international collaboration, form partnerships, and become trustworthy stakeholders in the international arena. This is also the intention of the selected case university (EU), and similar policy incentives and interests have been noted in other studies of Ethiopian Higher Education (see Kassie, 2020;Tamrat & Teferra, 2018). Sutton and Obst (2011) argue that strategic partnerships tend to reflect contemporary institutional demands.…”

“…According to DeWit and Altbach (2021) and Knight (2004), internationalisation activities are often driven by a dynamic combination of economic, academic, sociocultural, and political rationales. Economic rationales are linked to demands for economic growth and competitiveness, labour market, and financial incentives (DeWit & Altbach, 2021;Knight, 2004;Tamrat & Teferra, 2018). With the growth of scientific and technological competitiveness, HEIs are pressurised to diversify their funding sources through international partnerships (Jeptoo & Razia, 2012;Woldegiyorgis, Proctor, & DeWit, 2018) and to generate income through international activities, fee-paying international students, patenting, and franchise arrangements (Knight, 2004).…”

“…With the growth of scientific and technological competitiveness, HEIs are pressurised to diversify their funding sources through international partnerships (Jeptoo & Razia, 2012;Woldegiyorgis, Proctor, & DeWit, 2018) and to generate income through international activities, fee-paying international students, patenting, and franchise arrangements (Knight, 2004). Academic rationales are related to the aims and functions of higher education, including incorporating an international dimension to research and teaching, strengthening institutional capacity, improving institutional profile/status, enhancing quality, achieving international academic standards, and extension of academic horizon through various international academic and research activities (Jeptoo & Razia, 2012;Kot, 2015;Nyangau, 2018;Tamrat & Teferra, 2018). Socio-cultural rationales are related to improving intercultural understanding, national cultural identity, citizenship development, and social and community development (Knight, 2004;Nyangau, 2018;Qiang, 2003).…”

Education Quality Challenges in Ethiopian Secondary Schools

“…However, there is an assumption that it can also present a threat by making a teaching profession obsolete [24]. Though, we argue that globalization should not prevent the progress of interactive learning software as people will still "have to learn how to learn" [24,25].…”

Searching for Larger Status in Global Politics: Internationalization of Higher Education in Turkey

“…These studies have explored widely diverse cases from around the globe. They have included investigations into the practices of countries where expanding efforts of internationalization in higher education are relatively new, such as Ethiopia (Tamrat & Teferra, 2018), Slovenia (Komotar, 2019), Estonia (Tamtik & Kirss, 2016), South Africa (Kishun, 2007; Meda & Monnapula-Mapesela, 2016), or Colombia and Mexico (Berry & Taylor, 2014), as well as those where they are well established, such as Australia, where fee-paying international students make up a quarter of higher education enrollments (Marginson, 2007). These studies have also explored in detail the intentions and impacts of specific government policies aimed at internationalizing higher education in countries like Kazakhstan (Jumakulov et al., 2019), China (Huang, 2015), Japan (Rose & McKinley, 2018), and South Korea (Byun & Kim, 2011).…”