ECSU holds the 9th National Conference
Ethiopian Civil Service University (ECSU) Research Affairs Directorate (RAD) held the 9th National Conference with the theme “Public Sector Transformation and Development” from June 3- 4, 2024 at the newly inaugurated Omo Hall. At the conference ESCU scholars, Researchers and invited Guests from Federal Ministries, Universities, and Addis Ababa City Administration participated.
In his opening speech, Professor Fikre Dessalegn, ECSU President, welcomed the participants of the conference to the momentous academic event of the University and noted that as a successive annual events, the motto of this year conference is “Public Sector Transformation & Development”. He also said that this year’s gathering, links up the broader agenda of transformation and development and addresses it in the context of Economic development, urban governance, and Public service delivery, Peace and Conflict Management, Diplomacy; and also in the context of Environment and Development; and Human Resource and Leadership Competencies.
“ECSU has been actively engaging in research activities for nearly a decade and disseminating its research findings to the end users. Data over the past 9 years indicated that the research productivity in terms of volume of research conducted and the number of publications as articles in journals and proceedings; and also as PhD monographs and other scholarly products are very encouraging. A total of 448 staff grant research topics have been researched, dozens of articles have been published in successive volumes of our journals and proceedings; and also in other local and International journals, and we have records of 109 PhD monographs produced by our alumni. The research productivity is higher when including research outputs by our second degree students. Among these, those published in indexed and journals of wider circulation are obviously a key in enhancing our University’s image and visibility at national and global stages, despite five of our journals are still awaiting accreditation by the Ministry of Education.” Professor Fikre noted.
He also added that in the past five years alone, ECSU has executed 59 relatively bigger research and consultancy projects, with about 400 million-birr funded by public sector organizations in addition to budget allocated from government treasury and the research findings disseminated and recommendations enabled beneficiaries to deeply understand some of the public sector problems and pin point possible solutions to the problems identified. ECSU is now embarking into the road of becoming Graduate and Research University by maintaining its legacy and responsibility of building public sectors’ capacity. Besides, it is gradually evolving as a university of choice by the public servants and employees of private sector, despite the low intake capacity when compared to candidates applying to join our academic programs, Professor Fikre added. Finally he thanked all the researchers for bringing their expertise and innovative ideas to the conference as well as the organizing committee of the conference.
In her keynote address, Professor Netsanet Workneh, Vice president of Research and Partnership of Jimma University said that ECSU has been differentiated as Research University based on its achievements and capacities which has shown through its educational programs, innovative researches, initiatives and capacity building efforts. The university’s commitment for excellence and advancement of public services for the betterment of the society is exemplary, Professor Netsanet added. She also explained that research and innovations are at the heart of the public service transformation and development. The academic staff is more oriented mostly in teaching rather than research undertakings. In this regard, it is expected to make transformations in mindset, create conducive atmosphere to research and innovation to become research intensive university.
In her inspirational speech Professor Netsanet shared her personal experience to the participants and her determination to get at the position she is now and overcoming the challenges that she was facing in connection to gender stereotype. She also share the experiences of Jimma University on how research works undertake. In jimma University researches and most of international collaborations are initiated by the staffs and holding international conferences and seminars at Jimma University attracted scholars and experts around the world. Nurturing the culture of excellence and innovation, and academic integrity within the university brought positive reputation Professor Netsanet noted. She also underlined the importance of personal growth and development and giving attention to the personal wellbeing in order to be healthy and productive in one’s professional life.
In his welcoming speech, Dr. Alemayehu Debebe, ECSU Vice President for Research and Partnership, welcomed the participants and noted that ECSU since its establishment passed through several challenges and overcoming these challenges has gained reputation both domestic and international aspects of the academia. Being guided by the principle of continuous learning, it become designated as a Researched University along with the eight first generation universities in the country, Dr. Alemayehu said.
Research universities differ from other universities in its dedication in advancing research culture and wining reputation in research productivity and qualities. Research universities also known to the degree to which their research outcomes enforce the policy making of the nation. We have highly tried to make the consumers of our research outcomes need the information and data of our researches into the policy crafting arena, Dr. Alemayehu noted.
On the conference a total of 42 (16 from outside and 26 from ECSU) research papers were presented. The thematic area distribution of these researches included Economic and development, Urban Governance, Diplomacy, International Relations, Peace, Human Re