University Leadership and Management Capacity Development Project

The Project Outline (PO) comprehensively identifies the broader policy context of the Higher Education reform, framed in the Ethiopian socio-economic development context. Rationale for the establishment of the thirteen NPU’s is derived from the challenges towards the Higher education system, both quality and quantity wise, in meeting the growing demands for a well-educated labor force in the country.

From an institutional development and educational transformation perspective, the challenges are daunting, combining the start-up of a number of institutions with the upgrading and conversion of vocational training institutions into universities. This process poses a number of general institutional development challenges as well as specific challenges related to the particular policy-setting and environment of Ethiopia.
The project is complex, both in terms of scope and magnitude, however the size of operation also provides options for economies of scope and scale, in terms of mutual learning, sharing of best-practices and the piloting of alternative institutional development approaches.

The project context calls for a strong policy guidance and coordination by the Higher Education Strategy Centre – HESC, similar to its engagement in the previous LMCD project phases.