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.