Ministry Mobilizes over 257 Million USD from Partners

Addis Ababa April 30/2019 Over 257 million USD has been raised by international development partners to improve science and higher education in Ethiopia over the past nine months, according to Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

Presenting the ministry’s nine-month report to the House of People's Representatives (HPR), Science and Higher Education Minister Hirut Woldemariam said the money was given in grants  and credit.

Some 150 million USD would be used for the construction of six polytechnic centers of excellence in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges as well as for the Ethiopian Railway Academy, she added.

According to her, the money would help the ministry enhance activities to advance science and higher education in Ethiopia.

The governments of Germany, the Netherlands, Korea, World Bank and United Nations Education Science and Cultural Organization are among the partners that contributed the fund, it was learned.         

As a newly established institution, the raising of the fund is among the successes of the ministry during the past few months.

Meanwhile, Hirut explained that national research, social services, technology transfer and university-industry linkages have been created to bring about industry-led economic development.

She stated that 16 centers of excellence are established in Addis Ababa and Adama science and technology universities in order to strengthen and bring about technology-based industry-led economic transformation.

On the other hand, the performance of the first phase construction of eleven universities is on average above 99 percent, Hirut said.

The newly formed Ministry of Science and Higher Education was established in October 2018 to lead the development of science, higher education as well as the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in Ethiopia.