Perceptions, Challenges, and Opportunities for University Autonomy: The Experience of Addis Ababa University’s Governance Reform Initiative

Abstract

One of the most critical issues in the 21st-century higher education academic discourse
including the discourse in the Ethiopian context is the extent to which African universities enjoy the status of autonomous universities. An autonomous university is set in the best of conditions to exercise independence, total control, and management of itself in its overall functioning, including academic, financial, and institutional freedom of inquiry. However, this statement of autonomy has been threatened by many African countries to an unprecedented degree, as stressed in the Kampala Declaration on Intellectual Freedom and Social Responsibility.
Looking at higher education in Ethiopia, it has been influenced by government-favored political ideology (Ashenafi Aboye & Metcalfea, 2021) for at least three regimes (1916-2018). This study has attempted to bring to the forefront the recent Ethiopian experience of reforming its higher education governance into an autonomous status. The objectives of this study were to explore the very drives for higher education autonomy in the Ethiopian context and analyze the enabling factors and associated challenges towards it. Taking Addis Ababa University, the oldest and biggest national university in the country, and employing a descriptive research methodology where quantitative and qualitative data were collected using a survey questionnaire and document review, the study revealed significant challenges and limited progress in introducing autonomous governance in Addis Ababa University at both conceptual and practical levels. The dire need for members of the university community and stakeholders to get all on board for a shared vision, the unwavering commitment of the government to support universities, and the need to develop the infrastructural capacities of universities emerged as critical requirements for successful autonomy. Furthermore, the study asserted that the process, nature, and procedures of granting universities an autonomous status vary from context to context and from time to time, being so complex that the exercise attracts many actors such as the government, public universities, external donors, non-governmental organizations and different professional societies to play.