Nine Universities Near Autonomy Have a Ministry Freezing Their Assets

Aug 16 , 2026. By NAHOM AYELE ( FORTUNE STAFF WRITER )

Federal education authorities have barred nine public universities, in the final stretch of their move to autonomy, from selling or borrowing against their assets, or from launching major construction and high-value procurement, until they review their readiness. In a letter signed by Education Minister Birhanu Nega (PhD), the freeze is in effect while an independent expert committee’s findings are assessed. The nine, all slated for full autonomy within three months, are Gondar, Bahir Dar, Mekelle, Hawassa, Jimma, Haramaya, Arba Minch, ASTU and AASTU.

Federal education authorities have frozen the hands of nine public universities in the final stage of their move to autonomy, barring them from selling or borrowing against university and government assets. Neither are they permitted to launch major construction and high-value procurements until they have completed their review of whether the universities are ready to govern themselves.

The order, in a letter signed by Education Minister Birhanu Nega (PhD), is meant to keep the ground still while authority changes hands.

The nine, all slated for full autonomy within three months, are Gondar, Bahir Dar, Meqelle, Hawassa, Jimma, Haromaya, Arba Minch, Adama Science & Technology University (ASTU) and Addis Abeba Science & Technology University (AASTU). The freeze remains in effect while the Ministry weighs the findings of an independent expert committee that assessed its autonomy proposals.

The restriction is less a sanction than a precaution. University management is expected to turn over as the academic institutions enter autonomous governance, with new presidents brought in to steer the changes. The Ministry wants no binding commitments made on the way out the door.

According to Kora Toshine, a former vice president of Jimma University and now a state minister for the Ministry of Education, the measure was intended "to smooth the transition."

“Sitting presidents know their institutions as they are,” Kora said. “But they may find it hard to lead the changes autonomy demands.”

The Ministry has begun installing new presidents, as it did at Addis Abeba University (AAU). According to the State Minister, the suspension followed no observed failing. It was imposed pre-emptively to head one off, such as sparing incoming leaders the burden of last-minute deals struck before their arrival.

The Ministry intends, in time, to choose presidents through open competition.

“We’re looking for presidents for those universities,” the State Minister told Fortune. “We’ll appoint someone soon."

The Ministry has already named acting presidents at three of the nine, Jimma, the University of Gondar and AASTU, rotating familiar senior figures rather than reaching outside.

Yechale Kebede (PhD) moved to the acting presidency of Gondar from the vice presidency for academics at Arba Minch University. Asrat Atsedeweyn (PhD), a Gondar hand for more than a decade, took over AASTU. Dereje Engida (PhD), who led AASTU for more than seven years, moved to Jimma, replacing Jemal Abafita (PhD), who, after almost seven years in Jimma, has left with no next post announced.

Jemal confirmed only that he has left, but declined to disclose where he was headed.

That reshuffle is where the change met its first doubt.

Tesfaye Lega is a higher-education policy researcher who is a founder of the Merit Language Centre. He once ran Knuz College and has taught for more than 30 years. He insisted that the Ministry should open the door to new leaders rather than move familiar faces between chairs.

The path the nine have walked is deliberately steep. A university seeking autonomy should score at least 60pc on a readiness framework that tests institutional capacity across four pillars. It begins with a self-evaluation conducted by its own management, followed by a separate assessment by a committee of academic and administrative staff drawn from outside that management. Only then do the results reach the university board, which judges whether the institution has the aggregate score and the consistency to proceed.

Kora disclosed that nine of the 46 public universities have cleared those stages. They now await the Ministry's review of the expert committee's findings, with formal autonomy expected within three months of the Minister's announcement.

The precedent hangs over all of it. Addis Abeba University, the country's oldest, began its own autonomy in September 2023 and has reached the final phase, recruiting a president and vice president. Its restructuring has already shut several colleges and departments. Hundreds of administrative and academic staff have been left without placements under a new organisational structure.

It is that record, in part, that appears to have prompted the freeze. The worry is not only what autonomy builds but also what it unsettles along the way. Those familiar with the process say governing an institution independently requires rewriting its rules, budget, and staffing at once. The university that went first is still absorbing the shock.

The Ministry classifies Ethiopia’s public universities into research (eight), applied sciences (17), general (21), and specialised (three). Together, they enrol a student population of more than one million and employ a combined staff likely to be nearing 100,000.

“The nine will go first, and the rest will follow over time,” the State Minister told Fortune.

Autonomy is meant to enable universities to recruit qualified experts, stand on firmer financial ground, and design programmes that meet market needs. They are also supposed to generate their own revenue and spend it on institutional priorities rather than money parcelled out programme by programme.

For its critic, that same freedom carries a trap. Tesfaye called autonomy fundamentally sound and worth backing, noting that universities are meant to operate freely.

“That reality has fallen short, making administrative and financial independence necessary,” said Tesfaye.

But he doubted it would prove as tidy as it looks on paper. His concern is money, whether universities can earn it from problem-solving research rather than from students.

"If they try to achieve autonomy solely by collecting tuition from students, they’ll become unaffordable and turn into institutions that serve only a select few," he said. “Producing research that pays, graduating sought-after students and securing dependable income would all be hard.”

Kora conceded the reason for caution. The transition comes partly from a concern that the nine universities might retrace Addis Abeba University's steps once independent.

“While that experience has good and bad sides, each of the nine has its own circumstances and will find its own way, not one shared trajectory,” he told Fortune.

On the ground, the mood is closer to impatience than anxiety. Senior officials at Haromaya and Arba Minch see the change as an opportunity, and the Ministry's restrictions have not touched daily work.

Arba Minch, with more than 21,700 students across regular and extension programmes, has done much of the groundwork, according to its President, Kemal Abdel (PhD).

"So far, we aren’t autonomous, but we did what was expected from our side,” he told Fortune. “We’re waiting for confirmation from the Ministry.”

According to Abdi Mohammed (PhD), vice president for Administration & Development at Haromaya, which has nearly 24,000 students, is preparing for the status and expects to gain from it.

Preparation at both has run well ahead of the Ministry's formal word. However, experts remain sceptical about whether the change will succeed and whether the pressure to generate revenue could create new barriers for students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. According to Tesfaye, depending primarily on tuition fees could make higher education less accessible to lower-income students.

“If they solely base it on tuition fees, less fortunate people will not learn, and that is concerning,” he said.

PUBLISHED ON Aug 16,2026 [ VOL 27 , NO 1372]