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240 22 educating the educators Ethiopia’s IT Ph.D. Program Solomon negash and Julian M. Bass higher education was willfully neglected in africa during the late 20th century (Bloom et al. 2006). in the 1980s, african government officials with limited budgets argued that social returns on primary and secondary education were substantially higher than the returns on tertiary education (colclough 1980; Psacharopoulos 1980). The “Washington consensus” is a phrase that describes a set of policies “aligned with the commercial and financial interests of advanced industrial countries” (Stiglitz 2002:20). institutions pursuing Washington consensus policies, such as the international Monetary fund (iMf) and the World Bank, actively discouraged higher education investment in low-income countries. University funding was reduced, causing deterioration in staff working conditions, the built environment, and research capacity . Learning support environments for students were adversely affected. after the turn of the century, there was growing recognition that, in an information-based world, societies need the capacity to generate, transmit, and consume new knowledge. Technically trained professionals need to be equipped to analyze local and national problems , policies, and opportunities as well as train future generations in these emerging economies. Serious and productive universities are required to engage with and develop intellectual communities to pursue these functions (Szanton and Manyika 2001:1–3). as Malcolm gillis stated in 1999: Today, more than ever before in human history, the wealth—or poverty—of nations depends on the quality of higher education. Those with a larger repertoire of skills and a greater capacity for learning can look forward to lifetimes of unprecedented economic fulfillment. But in the coming decades the poorly educated face little Educating the Educators | 241 better than the dreary prospects of lives of quiet desperation. (quoted in Task force on higher education and Society 2000) Paul collier (2007) echoes these thoughts in his study of the “bottom billion.” increasing availability and enrollment in higher education must therefore be part of the strategy for low-income countries to achieve economic growth and become better connected to the global economy. africa has a very low (less than 5 percent compared to 50 percent in the United States) enrollment in higher education (Bloom et al. 2006). it has been estimated that in 1999, 174 education institutions were designated as universities in africa (aaU 1999). There were 26 countries having only one or two universities, while South africa, nigeria, and Sudan had several. information and communication technologies (icTs) have permeated the business and academic consciousness of low-income countries. Many have established ministerial and directorate positions in information technology (iT) and launched certificate programs, but advanced academic degree programs, especially Ph.D. programs , have lagged behind. from among the 225 member universities of the association of african Universities (aaU) in 2010, we found 1,364 degree programs in 23 countries. We followed the uniform resource locator (UrL) provided for each aaU member university and searched its website for Ph.D. programs (aaU 2010). There were 25 Ph.D. programs in icT-related fields from 11 countries. it is important to note that the aaU membership list is not exhaustive. for example, in ethiopia, the focus of this chapter, only 4 universities out of the more than 50 established in the country are members of the aaU; hence the numbers may have been underrepresented. iT offers many countries the opportunity to quickly create a first World industry, as demonstrated by india’s success with outsourcing. This model has spread to other countries, including the Philippines, russia, Vietnam, Brazil, and Uruguay. That ethiopia ’s instructional language for secondary and tertiary education is english, coupled with its large population, 85 million people, makes iT a potential growth industry. first, however, ethiopia must create a cadre of professors who can educate those who will become the critical resource for such an industry. We argue that the iT Ph.D. program in ethiopia has merit for consideration in other subject areas and locations. although in its early stages, one program can already demonstrate some published research outputs. Student numbers in the program as a whole are steadily being increased to build a self-supporting local research infrastructure. The program has attracted contributions from a significant number of foreign faculty members. Before discussing the specifics of the Ph.D. program, the chapter presents a brief overview of the educational context in ethiopia. We introduce the overall education system and the achievements in terms of increasing student numbers and overall quality. [13.59.82.167] Project MUSE (2024...

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