Ongoing dialogue series:

FSS launched two new bi-monthly lecture series titled “Culture and Development” and “Quality of higher Education in Ethiopia” to replace its highly successful series, “Intergenerational Transfer of Knowledge” (IGTK), which came to a conclusion in 2008 after running for three years and a half. The IGTK program was evaluated and the evaluation result indicated that the program has successfully achieved its objectives.

“Culture and Development”

This program has been conceived as a replacement for the IGTK lecture series. It is intended to explore the relationship between culture and development. All too often, development is perceived in quantitative and material terms, with GNP as a sort of infallible index of prosperity. But development is an al-encompassing phenomenon, including spiritual/mental as well as material well- being. Historically, there has certainly been an appreciation of the role of cultural factors in bringing about development, ranging from Max Weber’s thesis of the Protestant ethic to explain the rise of Western capitalism to the recourse to Confucian ethics to account for the rise of the Asian economic tigers. The envisaged six part dialogue series would address both the cultural factors for or against development and its cultural dimensions. Specific areas of focus would be: heritage management, tourism, culture in a globalized world, corruption, business ethics, begging and almsgiving, and the role of the creative and performing arts.

“The Quality of Higher Education in Ethiopia”

Ethiopia has seen a phenomenal expansion of its higher education program in the past decade, with higher education institutions rising from two in the early 1990s to twenty-one currently and with a projection of a total of over thirty HEIs in the coming few years. Conversely, however, the quality of higher education has been declining at an alarming rate. The inadequacy of university graduates to cope with their assigned duties after graduation has become a matter of grave national concern. To address this serious problem, FSS has launched bi-monthly dialogue series with the above title, focusing on such variables as student preparedness, staff profile, curriculum and physical facilities, accreditation, enrollment and research. The program has 10 series and is to end on 25 December 2010.

Completed dialogue series:
     • Inter-generational Transfer of Knowledge
     • Enabling Civil Society in Ethiopia
     • Good Governance and Democracy