Second University Days Held in Bahir Dar

“When you realize you are riding a dead horse, get off.” This was easily the most remembered quotation from Professor, Dr. Ulrich Erhardt of the University of Applied Management and the consulting firm, denkmodell, who gave the keynote address of University Days 2008 in Bahir Dar. The speech, “Leadership for Change”, focused on change as a process, in which steps need to be followed in a logical progression. The quote about the dead horse was given in relation to Prof. Dr. Erhardt’s first step in the change process – creating a sense of urgency. In other words, when something you rely on is no longer working, it is vital that you find an alternative solution.

The second University Days in Ethiopia took place at Bahir Dar University, Faculty of Engineering on May 8-10 using “Building Ethiopia: Promoting Leadership in Engineering” as its guiding motto. The University Days in Bahir Dar were organized by Bahir Dar University and supported by the Engineering Capacity Building Program (ecbp).

In addition to giving the keynote speech, Prof. Dr. Erhardt, as well as about a dozen others, held various workshops for the 300 students, lecturers, and administration officers in attendance from 7 universities throughout Ethiopia. The content of the workshops ranged from Information Technology to managing facilities at universities to using appropriate building technology for construction and they were attended by a reasonable number of people in the opinion of Ato Tenagne Baye, University Reform Manager of ecbp.

According to Ato Tenaw Tegibar, head of the research and publication office at Bahir Dar University and coordinator of this year’s University Days, the event was intended to inspire the application of practice-oriented educational curriculum, arouse team spirit among students of different universities, accelerate university industry linkage and create awareness about effective leadership.  These intentions seemed to be met, as Peter Keller, Director of ecbp, stated that he was, “Absolutely, positively surprised by the motivation and interest of students and teachers.”  He went on to say that he was impressed with the willingness of the white collar people to work in the clay as in the case of the Appropriate Building Technology workshop.

ecbp Director, Peter Keller, gets his hands dirty in the clay assisting a university student in the Appropriate Building Technology workshop during University Days 2008.

 

Governance and leadership was this year’s theme as it is one of a university’s goals to produce effective leaders who are the driving force in any activities according to Ato Tenaw.  He added that leadership, management skills and teambuilding are instrumental to any accomplishments of organizations and institutions. In addition to the emphasis on leadership, teambuilding was definitely evident during the event as numerous students and lecturers commented that they greatly enjoyed meeting people from other universities and sharing experiences with each other.

The third day of the event, Saturday May 10th, a Public Day was held during which the Faculty of Engineering was open for the public, particularly young school children, to see the equipment that is being used and meet the staff and students of the Faculty. It was estimated that nearly 400 people were on hand during the day viewing the departments of the Faculty and attending lectures about the various professions that graduates enter.

During University Days 2008 an exhibition was opened at the Faculty of Engineering, Bahir Dar University, showing results of research from past and present students and staff of the Faculty.

 

The overall focus of the event however, remained on the reform process which is under way at the Faculties of Technology/Engineering at Universities throughout Ethiopia. “The present one [University Days] is more targeted towards the aim of the University reform program, a program using Germany’s experience as a benchmark, aimed at practical education capable of solving problems rather than mere theoretical aspect,” said Ato Tenagne Baye, University Reform Manager with ecbp.