Background

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An interdisciplinary team from Texas Tech University (TTU) received a competitive grant to promote research and engineering graduate programs in Ethiopia. The team’s vision is a framework of partnership that will transform Jimma Institute of Technology (JIT) at Jimma University into a center of excellence. The framework consists of research grants, distance learning, mentoring, international collaboration, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Jimma University was ranked first among Ethiopian universities for the last seven consecutive years. 

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The Grant

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The 2-year grant is funded by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and administered by the British Council. The grant provides about $1.1 million to create a center of excellence at JIT in southwest Ethiopia and create new graduate programs at JIT, Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development, Dire Dawa Institute of Technology, and Arba Minch Institute of Technology. Additionally, the grant will fund collaborative research activities, international workshops, block teaching, distance teaching, supervision of graduate students, and short research visits of PhD students. The grant will focus on civil engineering and construction technology. The expected deliverables by grant end (end of 2 years) are 240 students enrolled in MSc programs and 20 students enrolled in the PhD programs. All students enrolled in these programs will be current faculty members in Ethiopia. Upon completion, the graduates will be able to conduct competitive research, supervise graduate students and, teach graduate and
undergraduate courses at Ethiopian universities.

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The Team

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An interdisciplinary team from TTU is one of three groups and the only American team to win a sizable international grant to increase research and engineering programs in Ethiopia. The TTU team includes seven professors from engineering, education, natural resources management, and architecture. The principal investigator (PI) for the grant is Dr. Stephen Ekwaro-Osire, the associate dean
of research and graduate programs in WCOE. The co-PIs of the grant are Prof. Joe Aranha (architecture), Dr. Tewodros Ghebrab (civil, environmental and construction engineering or CECE), Dr. Dave Louis (education), Dr. Gad Perry (conservation biology and senior director of international research and development), Dr. Sanjaya Senadheera (CECE and director of the center for
multidisciplinary research in transportation), and Dr. Venki Uddameri (CECE and director of the Water Resources Center). Dr. Job Kasule, a recent postgraduate researcher in the WCOE Department of Chemical Engineering, will be the international scientific coordinator based at JIT. He will work with the PIs to coordinate research grants, distance learning, international collaboration, workshops, mentoring, and development of laboratory infrastructure. Other faculty members from WCOE may also have opportunities to conduct joint research, teach distance classes, supervise theses/dissertation, and be mentors. The team has already developed four new graduate programs, namely, PhD in civil engineering, Master of Science in sustainable water resources engineering, Master of Science in transportation, and Master of Science in architectural engineering.

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Center of Excellence

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The need for the center of excellence has grown in the last decade as Ethiopia has seen a substantial increase in university attendance. From 2002 to 2012, the number of university students rose from 58,000 to 554,000, and the number of graduate students increased by 1,600 percent in the same time period. However, there are not enough professors to conduct research and teach the students, meaning faculty with master’s degrees are teaching courses that should be taught by faculty with doctorate degrees. At JIT, only 27 of the 405 staff members have doctorate degrees so far. Few avenues exist to correct this imbalance, as many schools, including JIT, do not have PhD programs. The goal is to have enough faculty in place to make the engineering education programs selfsustaining and have the infrastructure surrounding the center of excellence at JIT in place. The center’s focus will be on hydraulic and hydropower engineering, construction technology and structural engineering, geotechnical engineering, and irrigation and drainage engineering.

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