AAU Expands its Horizon to Agriculture

• Acquires a New Campus in Fitche Town

Addis Ababa University (AAU) expands its horizon to Agriculture by opening departments of Animal Science, and Plant and Horticulture Science at a new campus named Selale Campus in Fitche Town, North Shewa Zone, Oromia National Regional State. The College of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture will host the departments. The newly formed college came about following a recent restructuring of academic units in the University. The College comprises the former School of Veterinary Medicine, located in Bishoftu (Debre Zeit) which was then under the College of Health Sciences.

The University has already appointed Geberew Tulu as its first Acting Managing Director for the new campus. As a result preparations are underway to start operation in the next few months.

Many of the campuses of AAU have been based in Addis Ababa. The academic programs of the University also did not focus as much on agriculture, except in the formative years of the University when the current Haremaya University was AAU’s College of Agriculture. Now the opening of the new agricultural programs will bring AAU’s history back on track.

The new campus in Fitche has good topography with suitable environment and resources for animal production.

“This eases the teaching and learning process. It also helps students to understand the science in practice,” Geberew told Ethiopian Business Review. “We will also work with the community to modernize the traditional practice of agriculture in the area.”

The Selale Campus will also host new departments in Resource Economics, Management, and Accounting and Finance. These departments will be under the recently formed College of Business and Economics.

According to the acting managing director, a total of 350 students have been placed to pursue their studies at the Bachelors level. As part of the preparation to launch the teaching and learning process, the University has been undertaking employment of 50 academic staff. When students dormitory and cafeteria service are ready to use at the campus that was formerly held by Fitche Health Science College, now under AAU, operation will officially start. The University has also acquired 10 hectares of land from Fitche Town Administration for construction of additional facilities. It has also received 90 hectares for agriculture.

Established on March 20, 1950 at the request of Emperor Haile Selassie I as a two year college, the University started operations with the Faculties of Arts and Science and an enrolling capacity of 77 students. To date AAU has over 50,000 students pursuing their studies in regular, extension and summer-in-service programs in the over 65 undergraduate and 225 graduate programs (of which 69 are PhDs, 130 are Masters and the remaining post graduate certificates, diplomas and medical specialities and subspecialties) in 15 campuses.