13 PhD and 241Masters Students defended their works

Haramaya University held the October season open defense examination of PhD and Masters Candidates. The University is building upon its reputation in postgraduate studies, and is working to become one of the postgraduate and research universities in the country by the end of the Second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP). During the past couple of years, the number of Masters and PhD degree graduates of the University has tremendously increased. This evidenced the capacity of the University to become a Postgraduate and Research University within the coming few years.

At HU, an Open Defense Examination of PhD Dissertation and MSc Thesis is carried out three times in an academic year. The first defense of the academic year takes place towards the end of October through to the first week of November. The second round takes place in January, and the third in May and early June.

Students are examined by a committee of scholars consisting of one external examiner, one internal examiner and a chairman. While the external examiners must come from outside the University, the internal examiners and the chairmen are mostly staff members of the University. The external examiners are invited from within the country or outside the country. For the October defense, 92 scholars were invited from different universities within the country including Addis Ababa, Ambo, Arsi, Bahir Dar, Dilla, Dire Dawa, Jigjiga, Jima, Hawassa, and Mekele universities and, Kotebe Unversity College, The University of Gondar, and other institutions like Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, ICARDA-Addis Ababa and ILRI- Addis Ababa. Two of the external examiners came from South Africa and Switzerland. A defense exercise conducted with such professional mix is instrumental in maintaining the quality of the Dissertation and Thesis research work in particular, and the postgraduate teaching in general.

According to Dr. Mengistu Urge, Director of Postgraduate Programs Directorate, Doctoral Dissertation and Master’s Thesis open defense examination is one of the major activities put up on the annual postgraduate directorate academic calendar. He said such activities primarily serve as a check and balance to the quality of Dissertation and Thesis research work which are currently being carried out by the University’s graduate students. During the October 2016 defense season (as named by the Postgraduate Program Directorate) 13 PhD (two females and 11 males) and 241 Masters (24 females and 217 males), in total 254 students successfully defended their research works.

The students will receive their degree after the completion of their study is evaluated by the Council of the Postgraduate Program and is endorsed by the University Senate.