Haramaya University Redesigns Curriculum to Meet Modern Needs
The African Centre of Excellence for Climate-Smart Agriculture and Biodiversity Conservation at Haramaya University has organized a national curriculum revision workshop for two postgraduate programs.
The revision seeks to harmonize the university programs with national strategic objectives, technological advancement, and increased demand for climate-resilient professionals in Africa.
Curriculum revision includes a doctorate in climate-smart agriculture and biodiversity management, and a master’s degree in climate-smart agriculture, biodiversity, and ecosystem management.
Haramaya University Vice President for Academic Affairs Professor Mengistu Urgie underscored the necessity of the revisions, stating that they are crucial to the university’s 10-year plan as well as its process toward institutional autonomy. “These revisions are crucial to our plan to succeed,” he said. “They will allow us to create informed professionals who can meet existing needs and react to technological breakthroughs.”
Deputy Coordinator of the African Centre of Excellence at HU, Dr. Bobe Bedadi, labeled the process of review as an extensive exercise in cooperation between internal and external scholars from several academic and research institutions. The objective was to align the curriculum with prevailing technologies and stakeholder requirements.
“The programs at our center have been internally reviewed thoroughly to keep them current with technologies and stakeholders’ needs,” Dr. Bobe explained. “We have also been in partnership with several universities and stakeholder agencies to incorporate the stakeholders’ needs.”
The programs, which were rolled out at the review workshop, are carefully designed to prepare professionals with the capabilities to mitigate the impact of climate change in Ethiopia and Africa.
Dr. Abebe Shimels, senior researcher in forestry at the Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute, emphasized the inclusion of new technologies and artificial intelligence in the new curriculum to prepare students for the consequences of climate change.
Dr. Meseret Amde, Academic Programs Director at HU, emphasized that curricular revision is a major step forward for the nation and also for the continent. “This revision will benefit the nation and the continent by graduating capable agricultural professionals and researchers who can utilize new and advanced technology in an effort to develop the agricultural sector,” he explained.
African Centre of Excellence in Climate-Smart Agriculture and Biodiversity Conservation at HU, which has been operating these programs for the past eight years, is also enrolling students from across the continent to train a new force of appropriately qualified professionals and instructors in climate-smart agriculture.
Reporter: – Habtamu H/Giorgis
Photographers: – Tewodros Lishan and Behailu Girma
Haramaya University Public & International Relations Directorate
Tags: academic innovation, curriculum development, curriculum redesign, education strategy, Ethiopia education, Haramaya University, higher education, modern curriculum, university news, university reform