Through the linkage model established, senior staff members are recruited, teaching and research materials developed. Most of the colleges have been refurbished, parallel to this, dormitories for a capacity of 2000 students, a hall for about 300 students are built. New laboratories and libraries were also built. The old dormitories are changed to classes; this enabled to increase the number of students from 1683 in the acad. yr 91/92 to 5506 in 2002/2003. Relevance To The Need.
Eritrea requires high number of educated and trained manpower. University is the only higher learning institution for the Bachelor degree and below. Currently, postgraduate program incorporation with other universities is delivered. Hence it is the only institution, which supplies this need to the public. Effectiveness The University curricula have been revised through an international symposium. To evaluate the effectiveness of the courses however, the demands from different sectors of the government have to be analysed.
Nevertheless, the University’s long-term plan includes developing most of the graduate program to offer Masters degrees. Equity. By the fact that, the University was situated in the capital city, students who were living in the remote areas had no chance to join the University. Today females, handicapped and rural inhabitants are encouraged to join the university equally. Social acceptability. With the scarce and limited space available in the University, Most of the people would like to send their children to the University. Efficiency and Economy.
A comparison made between 91/92 and 2002/2003 academic years. The academic staff increased by 17% qualitatively, while the administrative staff increased about 15% quantitatively. From time to time new colleges and departments are opening and hence, efficiency and economy are increasing. Secondary school graduates who are entering the University have low standard. Of all the students who take the school leaving examinations, only between 6-10% qualify for admission to the University. Out of which who enter the University 10 -15% of them dropout.
The number and quality of the teaching staff. Even if the University was founded in 1958, for a major part of its history, it was an appendage of the Ethiopian University system. While the war liberation was coming to an end, the Ethiopian military ruler dismantled the University and took most of its resources and personnel to southern Ethiopia. Qualified academic staffs were not available in the local market. A well-established university should have approximately 20% full and associate professors and 30% assistant professors.
Today, only 47% of the total academic staff are PhDs holder, 24% Master holders, and 29 % are Bachelor holders. The availability of educational facilities and the limited fund available. Classrooms, laboratories, and libraries are inadequate. These deficits impose severe constraints on the number of students that can be admitted. Today the total daytime student population is 5,506. This rapid expansion in the number of students as well as the available academic programme could only be achieved by refurbishing the existing students dorms and converting them into teaching facilities.
The library is too poorly equipped to meet their basic needs and the students do not have the economic resources to be able to purchase books. One of the main objectives of the university is to contribute to national reconstruction and economic development by training people who have the requisite competence and by contributing innovations and knowledge that can serve as a basis for national development. The main challenge the university is facing is the following. In collaboration with the Ministry of Education and other concerned offices, they are trying to change the culture of the youth.
Making them participate in national reconstruction, encouraging them to complete on national Aptitude Test Forum, by forming clubs according their interest and facilitating the necessary supplies and finance, so as to make them, citizens with high integrity and national care. A good citizen with high integrity is only of the requisite. If the output of the secondary school is to be improved, junior secondary schools must be improved, teachers must be upgraded and motivated, new methodology of teaching is required, human and material resources co-ordinate for the better use.
With this in mind, in accordance Bailey ; Johnson 95 Incrementalism9 on the dimensions of strategic development, the university has planned to introduce a one-year pre-university program, to help students, who have successfully passed the school-leaving certificate exam to improve their language and computational and study skills before they join the university. The culture of an organization represents a shared recipe for actions. This recipe develops as the organization grows and is influenced by founders, senior managers and new comers.
It is strategic if University develops a consistent and shared mental models, so as those who have relation with the University will either share or learn out of it, such as the university has to organise get to gather, so as to acquaint its staff and develop relationship among themselves. The bureaucracy, the decision making, the customer care, the relationship between boss and peers and offices, ceremonies etc. are not only educational but they are also a source for superior performance, when designed perfectly.
