Universities Flunk Their Own Test as Confidence Wanes

Apr 19 , 2025. By BEZAWIT HULUAGER ( FORTUNE STAFF WRITER )

Key Takeaways:

• The national exit exam showed a 27pc overall pass rate, prompting concerns about education quality.
• Private universities, with only a 16.8pc pass rate, face increased scrutiny from students' families.
• The Education Minister signalled a move away from exit exams in favour of improved accreditation and internal evaluations.
• Infrastructure deficits, underqualified teachers, and systemic inefficiencies revealed by the exam need urgent attention.

Universities face a tough reality after a national exit examination in January this year produced a pass rate of only 27pc out of 177,552 students, a quarterly performance report from the Education Ministry delivered to Parliament last week disclosed. Public campuses fared better at 42.5pc, while only 16.8pc of private college students cleared the bar.

The test, introduced two years ago to verify learning before graduation, drew 81.4pc of registered candidates. Of those who signed up, a little over half came from public universities, mirroring the rapid expansion of lightly regulated colleges over the past decade. Enrollment remains large, but confidence in outcomes is fading among 871,950 undergraduates and 68,565 graduate students registered this year.

Private academic institutions feel the damage more acutely.

“Students were not prepared to be tested before graduating," said Demoz Admassu (PhD), president of Andenet University and a board member of the Association of Private Higher Education Institutions. "They failed in large numbers.”

He acknowledged a modest uptick compared with last year’s inaugural exit test, yet worries that tuition-paying families will question the value of accreditations from private colleges. In most countries, professional associations, not universities, administer such exams.”

“The exit exam is not the medicine for everything,” Demoz told Fortune.

He wants policymakers to move toward more practical and job-ready assessments that meet industries' needs. Education Minister Berhanu Nega (Prof.) told federal lawmakers the exam will not be permanent.

“Reforms are underway to do away with exit exams altogether,” he said, arguing that a stronger accreditation system and tougher internal assessments will serve students and employers more effectively.

Campus leaders say the results merely spotlight longstanding weaknesses.

“Infrastructure is poor, many teachers are underqualified, and technology transfer is weak,” said Kusse Gudishe, president of Jinka University.

He blamed low pay and fragile welfare for “affecting classroom delivery,” noting that some staff moonlight to make ends meet.

Auditors unearthed other headaches. Of the 33 universities inspected, 20 received clear opinions, 10 drew “except for” reservations, and three — Mizan Tepi, Wolaita Sodo, and Gambella — received adverse findings. An online platform for tracking cafeteria users also uncovered 210,000 “ghost students,” which inflated meal bills and masked leaks in the subsidy system.

A hot-lunch program, financed by the government, communities, and donors, plans to serve 9.3 million students this year for 7.8 billion Br.

More than 85pc of the country's schools miss minimum standards. The “Education for Generations” drive, launched in 2017, has raised 54 billion Br, including 27.3 billion last year alone. The money built 6,815 new schools, repaired more than 22,000 others, and distributed 43.5 million secondary textbooks, nearly one to each student.

Outside campus, the picture is no less bleak. The Ministry estimates that 7.2 million children are out of school due to armed conflicts or natural disasters. Still, 4.2 million attend kindergarten, 18.3 million are admitted to primary and middle schools, and 2.6 million attend secondary school.

Parliamentarians remained unconvinced. Desalegn Chane (PhD), an opposition legislator, pressed the Minister on teacher pay, which averages less than 100 dollars a month. He also demanded to know why capable students are denied university seats if capacity exists. For the Minister, quality, not quantity, is the priority.

“We can’t keep inflating numbers while standards fall,” he said.

Another red flag is last year’s national exams for secondary school-leaving students, which allocated university places, recorded a 95.6pc failure rate among the 684,405 candidates. A remedial test later allowed 85.28pc of 73,526 students who retook the exams to qualify for the 2025 intake, but public faith in assessments remains fragile.

“The problem is not the exam,” Berhanu insisted. “Let’s not fool ourselves.”

Another legislator, Tadesse Getu, asked how the Ministry would raise pass rates and cited budget constraints at university teaching hospitals, which survive on five percent of the campus social fund and face price ceilings set by the Health Ministry. The Minister disclosed that talks are underway to grant hospitals more autonomy to charge fees and upgrade equipment.

Legislators demanded new campuses for their districts. The Minister shot back that no such pledge exists; his team is trying to finish half-built facilities and modernise laboratories. In the Afar Regional State, two-year construction delays blamed on local contractors illustrate the bottlenecks.

Negera Lencho (PhD), head of Parliament’s Human Resource & Technology Affairs Committee, urged officials to “focus on reform, teacher training and infrastructure” and called for practical curricula over theory.

However, for Fitsum Gebremichael, an assistant professor at Hawassa University, Theory still matters, and "shouldn’t be abandoned entirely.”

He supports shifting exams to professional bodies but doubts many have the capacity. Success, he argued, depends on political neutrality, parent involvement, adequate resources and “quality educators.

“You can’t evaluate four years of education in two days,” he told Fortune. "There must be a holistic commitment.”

Despite the grim statistics, Minister Berhanu remained guardedly optimistic. His Ministry plans to revise admission rules, upgrade facilities, grant universities greater say in assessment and tie promotions to research output.

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PUBLISHED ON Apr 19,2025 [ VOL 26 , NO 1303]

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