Context
The acquisition of relevant skills is a prerequisite for employment and productivity at work. The Ethiopian Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) therefore assigns a key role to education for boosting economic growth. Other aims include achieving development goals and making Ethiopia a middle-income country by 2025. While the country has made great progress in the expansion of university education and technical and vocational education and training (TVET), quality still lags behind.
The key actors of the TVET and university sectors are not sufficiently able to align either the educational content to the needs of the private sector, or the education system to the requirements of the economy in the near future.
Objective
The employability of Ethiopian ¬youth and young adults ¬has improved as a result of the revised training services provided by the TVET system. Employees in the higher education system are able to ensure quality of university education.
Approach
The programme has supported key actors in strengthening the institutional framework of the TVET and higher education sector. As a result, the training courses are geared more closely to the needs of the private sector. Ethiopia has passed a new TVET law, reviewed professional standards together with private businesses, improved teacher training nationally and enhanced cooperation between TVET colleges and companies in respect of training. The training of more than 2,000 TVET teachers improves the vocational education of more than 350,000 TVET students. More than 100 companies now cooperate directly with vocational training colleges to make courses more practice-oriented.
At universities, the programme has introduced centralised and decentralised quality management systems, which are improving the practical focus of selected courses of study, and trained the presidential boards and directorates of partner universities in university management. More than 15,000 university graduates in total obtained qualifications in the course of the programme. Around 750,000 students have benefited from the improved conditions in the higher education sector.