U.S. - Ethiopia Universities Seeks Partnership to Ensure Food Security and Broader Engagement
The Public Affairs Section of U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa organized a workshop on Higher Education Linkages between U.S. and Ethiopian universities August 15-17, 2016 at the Hilton Hotel. The workshop was divided into two segments: a one-day workshop on August 15 for the U.S. delegation and 12 leading Ethiopian agricultural universities focused on food security and agriculture. This session was followed by a two-day conference for senior officials from all Ethiopian public and three private universities across Ethiopia.
The U.S. delegation, representing large public and land grant universities from across the United States, participated in the first two days before traveling to visit Ethiopian universities for more intensive discussions. The U.S. delegation included representatives from U.S. universities, including Texas State University, University of Missouri-St. Louis, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Pennsylvania State, Mississippi State University, Kansas State, Rutgers, UC Davis, and the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities (APLU).
The workshop provided an overview of sustainable partnerships and focused on best practices in establishing or expanding mutually beneficial linkages between U.S. and Ethiopian institutions of higher education. It also provided representatives of Ethiopian universities with an overview of strategies for initiating, managing and sustaining partnerships, and suggested tools and resources suitable to Ethiopian higher education capacity development efforts in terms of internationalization and global cooperation.
U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia, Patricia M. Haslach, State Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources of Ethiopia, H.E. Ato Wondirad Mandefro, State Minister of Higher Education, H.E. Dr. Kaba Urgessa, former U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia, Ambassador Tibor Nagy, and Honorary Consul General of Ethiopia in Texas, Gezahegn Kebede and high-level government officials, were in attendance.
During the opening, Ambassador Patricia Haslach said, “In 2010 and 2013, the Embassy hosted linkages workshops so that Ethiopian universities could gain the base knowledge needed to establish linkages with U.S. universities. We were also able to support 17 seed grants for various projects done in collaboration between U.S. and Ethiopian universities. Since 2010 and as a result of those two workshops and the seed money grants, we know of over 20 existing linkages between U.S. and Ethiopian universities”. This is the third linkage workshop held in Addis Ababa.