It is an honor and a privilege to share our work and future plans of our EU funded projects #FAITH and #MaDE to the consortium of #UAS at Dire Dawa University. The meeting was graced by the presence of the presidents of #UASs who unanimously approved the by-law of UAS. We also heard reports of #Koteb University of Education, #Dire Daw University, #Semera University and #Arisi University on their journey to realize the differentiation strategy. It is encouraging to see the efforts of many of the universities to assume a real of UAS. We also got the opportunity to visit the Industry Park and the dry land port at Dire Dawa. The ambition of the industries to work with the universities is very clear. Creating meaningful partnership and collaboration between the industries and the universities is non-negotiable. The effort of FAITH project in redefining internships, partnership and networking with industry/SMEs, demand driven applied research and technology/knowledge transfer, creating career paths for professors at UASs, Incorporating part-time lecturers from practice in the teaching and learning process and up skilling existing academic staff and engaging for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in teaching, research and management of the campus will play significant roles in transitioning the Ethiopian UAS. This will be further enhanced by the other project, MaDe, which focuses on the capacity development of the staff at UASs on the appropriate methodology that should be adopted by the UAS. However, as it was emphasized in the meeting, these different efforts should be collaborated to bring the desired result in a short time. I the coordinator of FAITH project have hope that the consortium established in the current meeting will play key roles in coordinating the efforts. I would like to congratulate Dire Daw University, Wallaga University and Debre Birhan University to have been elected to organize the consortium. #Fekede Tuli, #Almaz Wasse Gelagay #Zufan Gebrehiwet #Fekadu Yehuwalashet #Berhanemeskel Tena FAITH Project Ethiopia.
