Linkage of Higher Education with Agricultural Research, Extension and Development in Ethiopia

Abstract

High-level agricultural manpower training in Ethiopian institutions of higher education specialising in agriculture and related fields was studied. The study reveals that high level agricultural manpower training began in the early 1950s and that, at present, the country has seven institutions of higher learning which train students in agriculture and related fields. The results of the study show that the agricultural institutions of higher education have made contribution to the agricultural sector through training high level agricultural professionals, enhancement of indigenous research capability and generation and dissemination of technologies. The study also reveals that a host of factors have put a stranglehold on the training process and the professional competence of agricultural graduates. Moreover, the results shed new light on the programmes of study which were found to be unable to respond to the labour market requirements and current rural realities due to lack of relevance o f the curricula, which are no longer able to produce graduates who could deal with the wider problems of rural development