Background
The College of Law at Haramaya University had a strong start in 2002 (1995 E.C.) with100 students in the L.L.B. program and130 students in the diploma program. It started launching this program with five staff members. Since then the College has grown to over 725 students and 30 instructors including local and expatriate staff and part-time practitioners. Apart from its regular program, the College has also been well engaged in continuing, summer and distance education programs.
The College has settled permanently at the main campus where it has expanded its projects and facilities. One of the great strengths of the College has been its diverse teaching staff and active student body. Students have performed with distinction in several international moot courts including the WTO moot court in Geneva, the African Human Rights Moot Court in Senegal, the Jessup International Law Moot Court in Washington D.C., and the International Humanitarian Law Moot Court in Tanzania in which in 2007 we placed 2nd among all the teams. The participation of the College is extended to the ELSA Moot court competition and American University Washington College of Law LL.M Moot Court.
Like most law schools in Ethiopia, the College does not have separate departments, so every law graduate is trained in all parts of the law. The College has operated under different curriculums, most recently under the reformed curriculum of 2013 and 2020/2021. The government of Ethiopia through its Ministry of Capacity Building has invested heavily in legal education reform, expanding legal programs in Ethiopia and developing a five-year curriculum for all Ethiopian law faculties.
The need for the redesigning of the new curriculum was felt when, inter alia; the following multifarious problems had been identified with the old law curriculum:
- Absence of courses consciously designed to emphasize the centrality of good governance, democratization, economic development and social justice and other constitutional values
- Lack of sufficient number of skill oriented courses
- Lack of stress on ethical, technological, environmental and global concerns
- Lack of adequate number of courses that shape the ethical expectations and responsibilities of a law graduates
- Lack of gender sensitiveness
- The curriculum lacks clear and adequate objectives
- The curriculum lacks clearly and comprehensively stipulated graduate profiles
- Lack of proper sequencing of courses
- Generalist approach of the curriculum, that is that it does not give adequate choice to students for there were few elective courses
The reformed the new law curriculum which has also addressed the above mentioned problems of the old law curriculum was completed and put in place for freshmen students starting in 2006.
Following the promulgation of the new Ethiopian Education road map, the curriculum for undergraduate law program was updated to incorporate basic freshman program courses in 2020/2021 academic year.
Vision
Haramaya University College of law aspires to be a center of quality higher learning and research with community of scholars devoted to producing well-trained, competent, and responsible legal professionals who could make a significant impact in Ethiopia’s socio-economic development, democracy, good governance, and social justice.
Mission
Haramaya University College of Law seeks to enhance democracy, good governance, tolerance, equality, social justice and economic development for the people of Ethiopia through quality programs of teaching, research and public service.