University Autonomy Becomes a Paywall for the Poor

Feb 28 , 2026
By Shumye Getu (PhD)

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Almost three years ago, headlines promised a new era for higher education. The Ministry of Education (MoE), under Berhanu Nega (Prof.), announced a major transformation to grant public universities academic autonomy. Beginning in 2022, 10 first-generation universities were meant to become autonomous within two years.

Autonomy, the policymakers believed, would bring quality education and unlock financial and operational independence.

To give this promise legal force, they lobbied lawmakers to pass a 2023 law granting universities autonomy. Campuses rushed to respond, institutionalising structures that were redesigned, curricula revised, and operational rules rewritten. Everyone talked about “the autonomous university” as if it were around the corner.

At first, universities were told they would become autonomous within two years. Later, a different model emerged. Addis Abeba University would move ahead on its own, and other universities would follow at some undefined point. There is still no clear time frame for when the rest will become autonomous.

A few years later, little has changed, with the only real exception being the Addis Abeba University, the country’s oldest higher-learning institution, which was granted autonomy in October 2023. Even there, reality has not matched the rhetoric. The University is still in probation, testing what autonomy means in practice and finding that expectations are harder to meet than promises. According to its Interim President, Samuel Kifle, “autonomy of the Addis Abeba University will pave the way to the delivery of quality education.”

The Ministry of Education has insisted that university autonomy is about administrative independence. But the law, and the early practice on the ground, tell a different story. The essential objective appears to be financial independence. The law clearly designates strong financial capacity as one precondition for universities to become autonomous.

The first test of autonomous status was not quality but who gets in the door. Quality is measured over time, while students faced a more immediate issue of enrollment.

What, exactly, are the enrollment criteria for autonomous universities?

Experience at the Addis Abeba University so far has shown that a student’s economic background is being tested almost as much as academic merit. The ability to pay tuition calculated following the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) is now central to their chances. Not having the financial means to cover these fees can quell aspirations before students ever sit in a lecture hall. This tilts the system away from the country’s education and training policy goals of fairness, inclusiveness and accessibility.

A UNESCO report found that Ethiopia falls short of the 12pc higher education enrollment seen in middle-income countries. When access is already low, tying autonomy so closely to income risks putting the cart before the horse. And that is no detail.

Undoubtedly, the higher-education institutions face serious problems. Quality is patchy, efficiency is weak, budgets are tight, and leadership is contested. The Ministry’s own assessments find that some universities fail to meet required standards. The Minister even warned that such campuses could be turned into boarding schools. To admit that several universities are struggling to meet basic standards, while insisting they march toward autonomy, is a contradiction.

Building a strong financial base is one of six criteria in the proclamation for granting autonomy. The law spells out the objective of establishing an autonomous university as “to enable universities have good standing to generate revenues and thereby build a system to become self-sufficient by efficiently and judiciously managing their revenues.” That sounds less like academic freedom and more like a business plan.

But most universities are in no position to generate their own budgets. Autonomy, in this context, pushes them to hunt for revenue wherever they can. The most direct path is through students, in the form of rising and diversified tuition payments. Autonomy becomes a legal cover to collect income and to render services only when payment is secured.

Indeed, administrative and academic autonomy do matter. Universities should be able to make independent decisions, govern themselves autonomously and safeguard academic freedom. These are important for building quality teaching and research. But financial autonomy is a different animal. In the current context, it is mostly about revenue generation and resource administration.

For the federal government, this reform eases budgetary pressure. Higher education has long required large capital and operational spending. Rather than struggle with this financial burden, the state appears ready to step back in the name of administrative autonomy.

The uncomfortable truth is that most public universities are not structurally strong. They remain exposed to political interference and dependent on central administrators. Asking them to shoulder the responsibility for funding themselves before they have regained their footing carries clear risks. Instead of fixing quality, autonomy may end up pricing students out and leaving campuses with less public support, more financial pressure and no guarantee of better education.

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PUBLISHED ON Feb 28,2026 [ VOL 26 , NO 1348]

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