Questioning Ethiopia’s University Education Philosophy

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the two contradictory debates about the educational philosophy of universities in the context of Ethiopia. It also explores how the understanding of the philosophy of university is shaped by environmental factors and exacerbates the marginalisation of youth. On the one hand, universities are perceived as places where knowledge, that can solve a certain problem. On the other hand, universities are places where knowledge is produced and disseminated irrespective of its immediate use value. This study found out that the understanding of the philosophy of education varies across time and place. In the Ethiopian context, there is neither a disinterested pursuit of knowledge nor the instrumentalist epistemology, nor a synthesis of the two. It disregards the value of knowledge altogether and overly simplified the philosophy of instrumentalist epistemology to extent of buying and selling certificates even in the absence of formal training.