The Role of Higher Diploma Program in Enhancing Life-Long Learning, Teachers’ Professional Development and Success in Ethiopian Private Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

As part of the implementation strategies of the Education and Training Policy (TGE, 1994), in 2003 the Ethiopian Ministry of Education had introduced a wide-ranging reform that touches every aspect of teacher education of the country via a program called the Teacher Education System Overhaul (hereafter TESO). TESO was introduced to bring about a paradigm shift in the Ethiopian teacher education system. One of the components of TESO was Higher Diploma Program. This program was designed mainly to introduce concepts such as being reflective teacher, active learning, continuous assessment, research methodology, and school/industry placement to public and private higher learning institutions engaged in offering higher education. Hence, the core intention of this research was to investigate the role of Higher Diploma Program in terms of enhancing teachers’ continuous professional development and success in Ethiopian private higher education institutions with particular reference to Adama Campus of Rift Valley University and Unity University. To this end, 123 instructors were taken as the subjects of the study. Furthermore, the deans and supervisors of the two campuses were used as sources of data. Questionnaire, interviews, and observations were used as tools for data collection. The collected data were analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The close-ended items of the questionnaire were analyzed quantitatively whereas the data gathered via open-ended questionnaire and interviews were analyzed qualitatively. The study revealed, except offering short-term trainings, there was no implementation of Higher Diploma Program across the two universities. Finally, recommendations were forwarded to the two universities to offer wellorganized Higher Diploma Program to their respective academic staffs.