Higher Education Reforms in Ethiopia Consequence of Shifting of Priority of Knowledge for Academics at Addis Ababa University

Abstract

This paper examines the consequence of shifting of priority of knowledge for academicsthat characterizes the post-1991 higher education reforms in Ethiopia. It offers acomparative account of two faculties at Addis Ababa University (AAU): Addis AbabaInstitute of Technology (AAiT) and College of Social Science (CSS). Relying onRational Choice Institutionalism (RCI) and Institutionalist Sociology of Professions (ISP)and employing mixed-method research, the finding indicates that the shifting of priorityof knowledge has the effect of shaping academic governance more aligned to micro-levelinstitutional set-ups that signify economic decisions and individualistic orientations. Incontrast, macro-level institutional set-ups that signify normative rules and collectiveorientations tend to emerge less important. Inter-faculty comparison shows that thoughacademics at the AAiT tend to emerge in favor of micro-level institutions more than theacademics at the CSS, a result of t-test (-1.701 and sig.0.094) shows that the differencebetween the faculties is not statistically significant. The implications are that the shiftingof priority of knowledge has the tendency to increase economic rationality of theacademics, shape professional identities along individual lines, and undermine collectiveidentities. The shifting of priority of knowledge finds a better explanation in RCI ascontrasted to ISP. This implies that governance arrangements at micro-level institutionsmay work to address short term needs, which are largely economic. Nonetheless, for amore sustainable arrangement of academic governance and development ofprofessionalism, government and concerned bodies should take measures to strengthenmacro-level normative rules and reconstruct collective academic identity.