IUC with Jimma University (Ethiopia)

This is the final report of an external evaluation commission contracted by VLIR-UOS to undertake the mid-term evaluation of the VLIR-UOS Programme for Institutional University Cooperation (IUC) at Jimma University (JU) in Ethiopia. 

The IUC-JU Programme is led by the University of Gent (UGent) and draws on expertise from five Flemish universities as well as non-university research institutes in Belgium. The Pre-Partner Programme began in 2006 and 2007 was Year 1 of the IUC-JU Programme. The context for the IUC-JU is a national higher education system that has seen a period of rapid expansion (in terms of numbers of public universities) and growth (in terms of student numbers) since the early part of the last decade, with consequent pressures on academic staff numbers and quality, facilities and equipment. JU has played its part in this expansion, with an investment programme that has kept pace with the national goals in general and the requirements of the IUC-JU in expanding research programmes and improving research capacity and quality.