Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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Foreword
We are in a time where a global digital revolution is underway. More and more people are being
connected to the Internet than ever before and using digital devices and services for work and for
all aspects of life is becoming evident. As a result, we are experiencing a rapid shift in the nature
of work to which we must not only respond to it but also get prepared for it. In line with this, the
Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MoSHE) is pleased to present this National Digital
Skills Country Action Plan (DSCAP) for Ethiopian Higher Education (HE) and TVET Institutions
for the period of ten years, 2021-2030.
Technological advancement promises disruption across sectors, requiring us form the foundational
to highly specialized digital skills. At a time when digital technologies are driving the major social,
economic, and technological changes, developing the digital skills of the present and future work
force of a country should be given a priority. In this regard, MoSHE by the virtue of its
responsibility and based on its ten-year strategic plan, 2020-2030, must move forward to take the
leading role in preparing students in HE and TVET institutions with the right level of digital skills
that the future work environment demands. This also requires making ready the necessary policies
and strategies, designing the appropriate curriculum, enhancing the teaching learning process to
be supported by ICTs, developing the necessary infrastructure and resources. This document
recognizes the need for a concerted effort to make these requirements ready so that digital
technologies play a significant role in educating our students by offering them new ways to learn,
communicate, share, create and collaborate; and ultimately enable them to live and work well in
an era of this rapid technological change.
Recognizing the aforementioned need for digitally skilled citizens, we are now launching this
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Higher Education and TVET institutions in Ethiopia. This
action plan is designed in line with the new ten-year perspective plan and the three-year
Homegrown Economic Reform agenda, the Digital Ethiopia 2025 strategy, the UN Sustainable
Development Goals 2030, and the Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa (2020-2030). The
action plan is aimed at creating an environment conducive to the deployment of digital
technologies for educational purposes, making use of digital technologies to enhance and diversify
teaching and learning practices, and developing digital skills in the higher education and TVET
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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institutions. The action plan has five strategy components: (1) Establishing Enabling Policies,
Digital Skills Framework, and Digital Skills Assessment; (2) Reform of Digital Skills Programs;
(3) Enhance Use of Technology in Teaching Learning; (4) Connect Higher Education and TVET
institutions to Affordable High-Speed Broadband and Improving Campus Network Digital
Services; and (5) Capacity Building and Process Reengineering. The plan is a result of wide-
ranging consultations with stakeholders such as the World Bank, leadership and high-level experts
from Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MoSHE) and agencies under it, representatives
from the private sector and universities as well as TVETs in the country.
I would like to thank my colleagues at the ministry for their close follow-up and collaboration on
this ambitious but attainable action plan. By taking such an ambitious plan for the benefit of the
current generation and those to come, we will ensure equal opportunity to all students, and create
the needed digital skills of our graduates’ full potential at all levels. I call upon all our stakeholders
to do their best in implementing this action plan and to be inspired by the benefits it can create to
take us a significant step further in fulfilling the potential and the promise of our digital future and
the economic prosperity of the country.
Samuel Urkato Kurke (PhD)
Minister
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Ministry of Science and Higher Education
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Table of Contents Executive Summary .................................................................................................... vii
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 2
2. Partnerships ............................................................................................................. 5
3. Potential Risk and Mitigation ................................................................................. 6
4. Digital Skill Country Action Plan Strategies .......................................................... 8
4.1. Strategy 1 – Establishing Enabling Policies, Digital Skills Framework, and
Digital Skills Assessment ............................................................................................ 8
4.1.1. Baseline Status ...................................................................................... 8
4.1.2. Goals of the Strategy ........................................................................... 2
4.1.3. Activities ................................................................................................ 4
4.1.4. Implementation Timeline ..................................................................... 7
4.1.5. Key Performance Indicators (KPI) ....................................................... 8
4.1.6. Budget Requirement ............................................................................ 9
4.2. Section-II: Strategy 2 - Reform of Digital Skills Programs ........................... 10
4.2.1. Baseline Status .................................................................................... 11
4.2.2. Goals of the Strategy ......................................................................... 16
4.2.3. Activities .............................................................................................. 21
4.2.4. Implementation Timeline ................................................................... 22
4.2.5. Key Performance Indicators.............................................................. 23
4.2.6. Budget Requirement .......................................................................... 25
4.3. Section-III: Strategy 3 - Enhance Use of Technology in Teaching Learning,
Research, and Administration ................................................................................ 33
4.3.1. Baseline Status .................................................................................... 36
4.3.2. Goals of the Strategy ......................................................................... 39
4.3.3. Activities .............................................................................................. 41
4.3.4. Implementation Timeline ................................................................... 54
4.3.5. Key Performance Indicators.............................................................. 56
4.3.6. Budget Requirement .......................................................................... 58
4.4. Strategy 4 - Connect HE and TVET institutions to Affordable High-Speed
Broadband and Improving Campus Network Digital Services ........................... 67
4.4.1. Baseline Status .................................................................................... 69
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4.4.2. Goals of the Strategy ......................................................................... 72
4.4.3. Activities .............................................................................................. 74
4.4.4. Implementation Timeline ................................................................... 76
4.4.5. Key Performance Indicators.............................................................. 79
4.4.6. Budget Requirement .......................................................................... 80
4.5. Strategy 5 – Capacity Building and Process Reengineering ..................... 84
4.5.1. Baseline Status .................................................................................... 86
4.5.2. Goals of the Strategy ......................................................................... 88
4.5.3. Activities .............................................................................................. 89
4.5.4. Implementation Timeline ................................................................... 95
4.5.5. Key Performance Indicators.............................................................. 98
4.5.6. Budget Requirement .......................................................................... 98
5. Implementation Strategies ................................................................................ 100
5.1. Involvement of Development Partners for Technical and Financial Support
100
5.2. Involvement of Stakeholders and the Private Sector ............................... 100
5.3. Devise ways of other Financing Sources for the Implementation of the Plan
101
5.4. Promoting Gender Equality and Supporting Disabilities .......................... 101
ANNEX ........................................................................................................................ 103
Annex I:List of Abbreviations ................................................................................ 103
Annex II: List of Public Universities and Number of Students and Faculty in Public
Universities .............................................................................................................. 105
Annex III: e-Competence: Title and description ................................................ 107
Annex IV: Sample Responses for Capacity Building requirement survey ....... 113
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List of Tables
Table 1: Required enabling policies ............................................................................ 3
Table 2: digital skills framework .................................................................................... 3
Table 3: digital skills Assessment ................................................................................... 4
Table 4: List of Activities, timeline, and deliverables .................................................. 5
Table 5: Key Performance Indicators for strategy 1 .................................................. 8
Table 6: Number of Institutions in HEIs and TVETs in Ethiopia ................................... 12
Table 7: Enrollment and Gross Enrollment Ratio in HEIs and TVETs in Ethiopia ...... 12
Table 8: Number of Academic Staff in HEIs and TVETs in Ethiopia ......................... 13
Table 9: Indicators of Demand for Digital Skills from Principal Use Sectors (Jobs and
Users) ............................................................................................................................ 15
Table 10: Indicators of demand for digital skills in ICT and Telecommunications
Industries ...................................................................................................................... 16
Table 11: High-level Goals of the Sub-strategy 2.1 in the Time Frame Planned. .. 17
Table 12: High-Level Goals of the Sub-Strategy 2.2 (reform of the undergraduate
programs in IT fields) in the Time Frame Planned ..................................................... 18
Table 13: Projected Enrollment in Undergraduate Programs in the IT Related Fields
for 2025 & 2030 ............................................................................................................ 18
Table 14: High-level Goals of the Sub-strategy 2.3 (reform of the MSc and PhD
programs in IT related fields) in the Time Frame Planned ....................................... 19
Table 15: High-level Goals of the Sub-Strategy 2.4 (reform of TVET Courses) in the
Time Frame Planned ................................................................................................... 20
Table 16: High-level Goals of the Sub-Strategy 2.5 (Rapid Skilling Programs) in the
Time Frame Planned ................................................................................................... 20
Table 17: Timeline for the reform of all level DS in all HEIs and TVETs ..................... 22
Table 18: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) ............................................................ 23
Table 19: Baseline Data for Distance learning ......................................................... 37
Table 20: Desired state of this strategy by 2025 and 2030 for digital skills ............. 38
Table 21: Goals of the sub-strategies for strategy 3................................................. 39
Table 22: Quality standards for online courses ........................................................ 45
Table 23: Course Selection and Faculty Development .......................................... 46
Table 24: Approach for online course management ............................................. 47
Table 25: Digital tools and their usage ...................................................................... 48
Table 26: Access to digital devices ........................................................................... 49
Table 27: Strategy to build learning centers ............................................................. 51
Table 28: Strategy for course selection and prioritization ....................................... 52
Table 29: Digital tools and faculty development .................................................... 53
Table 30: Minimum standards for faculty digital skills development ...................... 53
Table 31: Implementation Timeline ........................................................................... 54
Table 32: Key Performance Indicators (KPI) ............................................................. 56
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Table 33: Status of Current Connections at HEIs and TVETs .................................... 69
Table 34: Category (Scenario 1) for HEIs (Not considered for further process) .... 72
Table 35: Category (Scenario 2) for HEIs (Considered for further process) ........... 73
Table 36: Category (Scenario 1) for TVETs (Not considered for further process) .. 73
Table 37: Category (Scenario 2) for TVETs (Considered for further process) ........ 73
Table 38: Indicators & Goals for EthERNet ................................................................ 73
Table 39: Indicators & Goals for CaNDiS................................................................... 74
Table 40: EthERNet (NREN) Enhancement and HR .................................................. 74
Table 41: Modernization of Campus Networks and HR .......................................... 75
Table 42: Implementation timeline for EthERNet Enhancement ............................ 76
Table 43: Implementation timeline for Campus Network Modernization ............. 78
Table 44:Indicators & Goals for EthERNet ................................................................. 79
Table 45: Indicators & Goals for CaNDiS................................................................... 79
Table 46: Capacity building Focus Areas ................................................................. 90
Table 47: Modalities for Capacity Building ............................................................... 91
Table 48: Digital Skills Framework for Digital Leaders in Ethiopian HEIs and TVETs 91
Table 49: Digital Skills Framework for Digital Specialists in Ethiopian HEIs and TVETs
...................................................................................................................................... 92
Table 50: Relation of capacity building and BPR efforts in this strategy to capacity
needs from other strategies ....................................................................................... 94
Table 51: Key milestones up to 2025, year-by-year ................................................. 96
Table 52: Key Performance Indicators (KPI) ............................................................. 98
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Executive Summary
While Ethiopia’s goal of achieving middle-income status by 2025 continues to shape policies,
institutional arrangements, and investment strategies, some macrolevel economic, environmental,
and political perspectives have shifted or been intensified, opening new areas for attention and
action. The national policy priorities set out in a new ten-year perspective plan and the three-year
Homegrown Economic Reform provide guidance and direction mainly on developing agriculture,
tourism, manufacturing, ICT, and mining sectors, among others. Ultimately the plan in each
sectator informs that changing the way things have been done and increasing productivity and job
opportunity and modernizing the overall system are central. Laying the foundation for technology
competency and building digital economy; developing and expanding accessibility of information
and communication technology; upgrading information communication technology service;
applying technology for the improvement of productivity and competency; building human
resource capacity that fits innovation and technology development are priorities of the 10-year
Development plan in the ICT sector. Similarly, Digital Ethiopia 2025, a digital strategy for
Ethiopia inclusive prosperity indicates that job creation, increased forex and inclusive prosperity
are the corner stone for the planed inclusive digital economy. Thus, realizing that digital
technology is a means to all the aspired development agendas, setting up the platform for the digital
skills development in Higher education and TVETs is fundamental.
A Digital skills Country Action Plan aligned with the 2019 Homegrown Economic Reform Agenda
and the Ten-Year Development Plan (2020-2030) and Digital Ethiopia 2025 as well as with
international commitments such as the Sustainable Development Goals, Partnership for skills in
Applied Science Engineering and Technology (PASET), Digital Economy for Africa (DE4A) and
the African Union's Continental Digital Strategy is a priority for Ministry of Science and Higher
Education. Higher Education and TVETs are assumed to have better in capacity and connectivity
so as to provide intermediate and advanced digital skills that can defuse into the wider community.
Thus, this Digital Skills Country Action Plan (DSCAP) outlines strategic objectives for Ministry
of Science and Higher education in its effort to realize the new ten-year perspective plan and the
three-year Homegrown Economic Reform by producing competent and digitally skilled workforce
that can modernize the agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, and mining sector.
This DSCAP is an organized plan to
• Develop, deploy, and use information and communication technologies to improve the
capability of HE and TVETs and their graduates,
• Create an inclusive and gender responsive digital skills development,
• Increase the productivity and innovativeness of the Higher Education and TVET
community, and
• Optimize HE and TVETs contribution to the development of the country by providing
digital skill training for youth out of school.
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The higher education and TVET systems are set to expand as their rate of enrollment is
continuously increasing due to the greater number of students that are completing secondary school
on a yearly basis. Ensuring the quality of digital skills training in these institutions can have an
immediate impact on the employability of graduates by adding critical competencies that
employers demand. In addition, focusing the attention and using the limited resources available on
a relatively smaller number of institutions (compared to the thousands of primary and secondary
schools) can create immediate and visible impact. The reform of digital skills programs in higher
education and TVET institutions can also impact the overall school system in two ways: by
generating the demand for acquiring basic and intermediate level digital skills amongst school
students, and also by preparing new (pre-service) primary and secondary school teachers, who are
trained in higher education, with digital competencies.
In the current trend of digital transformation, foundational digital skills are essential, but not
enough. Intermediate and advanced level digital skills are required to effectively exploit digital
technologies for economic development. In Africa, particularly in Ethiopia, higher education and
TVET institutions are best placed to develop these intermediate and advanced level digital skills
(rather than at school level) as they have better capacity in human capital and technological assets
(such as trainers, computer labs, etc.) and better connectivity. Moreover, students in HE and TVET
institutions do have the ability to share informally their skills with their siblings, parents, and the
people around them. As interventions at these institutions become successful, trainings can easily
be organized for youth out of school using the facilities and skills at the institutions. Students in
HEIs and TVETs are also groups of citizens that soon after joining the labor market and can create
a fast impact on the economy. This is therefore why the country has to focus primarily the digital
skills development programs on higher education and TVET institutions.
The Digital Skills Country Action Plan sets goals with measurable targets and lay out strategies,
activities, costs, and a detailed implementation plan covering the period 2020-2030. The plan has
recognized the following interconnected five strategic areas:
• The development of enabling policies for the development of Digital Skills, a Digital Skills
Framework customized for HE and TVETs (adapted from global frameworks), and a
system of Digital Skills assessments.
• Reform of priority Digital Skills education and training programs in higher education and
TVET institutions (including introduction of new programs). This includes Digital Skills
courses at the intermediate level for students in all courses and, at the advanced level
• Enhanced use of online courses and integration of a range of digital tools, from the most
basic to sophisticated, in teaching-learning, administration, research and community
services
• Increased and affordable high-speed broadband connectivity in research and educational
networks at the national as well as higher education and TVET institution levels. Improved
development and management of campus networks and infrastructure.
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• Capacity building of staff and development of efficient and digitally enabled business
processes in Ministries of Higher Education/TVET/Education and relevant national
authorities (such as HERQA, HESC and TVETA).
The below figure provides a diagrammatic representation of how these strategies contribute to
delivering the overall goals of the Digital Skills Country Action Plan, namely the development of
intermediate and advanced level skills amongst students in higher education and TVET
institutions.
Figure: Overview of the structure of the proposed Digital Skills Country Action Plan
Strategy 1- Establishing Enabling Policies and Developing Digital Skills framework – There is
absence of specific regulatory frameworks to encourage use of technology and digital learning and
lack of a standard digital skills framework informed. The sector has to develop and implement a
digital policy and strategy for Higher Education and TVET institutions, an intellectual property
rights policy for digital content ownership, a EthERNet policy, a digital procurement and HR
policy and a taxation policy for ICT equipment and services until 2025, among others. Similarly,
until 2025 a Digital Skills Framework has to be developed for Educators, ICT professionals and
all other professions. A national digital skills assessment scheme will be in place and 25% of the
ICT professionals and educators and 50 of students in Higher Education and TVET Institutions
will be assessed until 2026. International assessment will be done in 5% in 2024, 5% in 2026 and
10% in 2030. The national assessment will reach 100% by 2030. Since both the enabling policies
and the digital skills framework are basic and their successful implementation greatly affect the
success and initiations of the other strategies (strategy 2-5), most of the activities are planned to
be executed in the near future form December 2020 until 2024.
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Strategy 2 is reform of digital skills program to provide intermediate-level digital skills to 30% of
the students enrolled in TVETs and 50% of the students enrolled in HEIs. Reformed computer
engineering, computer science, Information Systems, and related programs will be established in
about 33 public universities, providing advanced digital skills to students including key courses in
modern topics such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Blockchain and related topics.
MSc and PhD programs offering revised highly specialized Digital Skills courses will increase
enrolment from the current 1400 to 2000 (by 2025, MSc level) and from the current 70 to 140 (by
2025, PhD level). Specialized TVET courses providing intermediate digital skills to TVET
students in ICT fields will be rolled out in 568 of the 1568 current TVET institutions by 2025. A
targeted 175,000 students in TVET will have completed selected courses in Rapid Skilling
Programs that respond to industry needs by 2025.
The digital skills reform program considers the following education structure
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In order to enhance the teaching and learning, administration, and research in HE and TVETs,
Strategy 3 plans to update the Introductory ICT course and provide it to all new students that covers
2o-23% of all the students at HEIs and TVETs every year. It is also planned to deliver digital tools
selected for courses and offer them online in a blended form along with the courses as intermediate
level courses. The Introduction to ICT course will be expanded to include skills necessary for
computer and internet usage as well as use of LMS for intermediate digital skills online training.
The different modules of the intermediate level Digital Skills training will be offered online to all
students and faculty (higher education and TVET) by 2025. In addition, all teachers need to be
trained to embed/use technology in their teaching as well as research by 2025. Private HEIs and
TVETs will develop their capacity by themselves and join the digital skills development strategy
100% by 2030.
Strategy 4 aims to increase connectivity to EthERNet for public HEIs from the current 72% to
100% for TVET institutions from the current 0% to 75%and for students and faculty in all HEIs
and TVETs from the current ‘very low’ to 100% by 2025 and to improve the core network speed
from institutions to the EthERNet from the current 10Gbps to 40Gbps by 2025. The total internet
bandwidth in HEIs and TVETs is expected to grow from the current aggregated 20Gbps to
120Gpbs, and the length of the fiber network for EthERNet connectivity is expected to grow from
the current 4,800km to 20,000km. Training capacity should reach 100 hours/year of training to
ICT service management and support staff. Campus networks in public HEIs and TVETs should
be expanded such that 80% have upgraded to fibre and 80% of buildings have fiber connectivity.
All academic areas should have Wi-Fi, and campus IT service personnel are expected to be 4 per
1000 students by 2025. All private HEIs and TVETs faculty and students shall be connected to
EthERNet to access digital skills modules by 2025. The remaining tasks of connectivity such as
connecting all TVETs to EthERNet and building campus networks is planned to be attained 100%
by 2030.
Strategy 5 pursues to provide capacity building on digital resource management to 42,520 (100%)
staff (from MoSHE, TVET agency and Institutes, HEI and TVET management staff) as the
capacity building shall be a prerequisite to the implementation of other strategies. This is computed
in such a way that four leaders are considered from each of the 674 TVETs, 9 leaders from each
of the 50 HEIs, 4 leaders from each of the 38 College of Teachers Education, 650 staff from
Ministry headquarters, and 300 from the agencies under the ministry. It is assumed that on average
two relevant digital skills trainings will be given to a staff every year for the first five years of the
10 years plan period. Besides, about fifteen key business processes will be reengineered in areas
including management processes, operational processes, and support processes. All new
management and support staffs in the MoSHE, HEIs, and TVETs who assume position or join the
institutions after 2025 are also planned to take the capacity building courses until 2030. The
courses are categorized as intermediate, advanced, highly specialized, and digital leadership
management level.
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Achieving these grand strategies in the HE and TVET sector will help HE and TVET institutions
to better prepare graduates for the realities of the domestic labor market and improve overall
national performance. The achievement of the ten-year development plan of all sectors depends
on the workforce that this plan aims to digitally enable. Supporting this plan thus must be the
priorities of all national and international community. However, the plan demands finance and
coordinated effort among different sectors such as Ministry of Innovation and Technology,
Ministry of Trade and industry, Ministry of Finance, Ethio-telecom, and Civil Service
Commission.
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1. Introduction
Building digital skills as an essential component to an inclusive digital economy across the African
continent was the takeaway from the 5th PASET Forum hosted in Kigali, Rwanda in 2019. This
further is rooted in the SDG 4 agenda that developing nations need to ensure inclusive and
equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all by using all the
available resources and skills. Agenda 2063 of African Union, further, states that the success of
the continent can only be ensured with well-educated citizens and skills revolution underpinned
by science, technology, and innovation. Thus, harnessing the capacity of ICT to improve access,
quality and management of education and training systems is taken as a strategic objective by
Continental Education Strategy for Africa 2016-2025. In order to put this into effect , the Africa
Union’s Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa (2020 – 2030) aspires that “By 2030 all our
people should be digitally empowered and able to access safely and securely to at least (6 mb/s)
all the time where ever they live in the continent at an affordable price of no more than (1cts USD
per mb) through a smart device manufactured in the continent at the price of no more than (100
USD) to benefit from all basic e-services and content of which at least 30% is developed and
hosted in Africa".
A structured series of initiatives intended to improve the capacities of Ethiopian Higher Education
and Technical and Vocational Education and Training to meet challenges arising from the
increasing demand and adoption of digital technologies and the impact of these on the world of
work, education and broader society necessitates a comprehensive plan. What is more, there is a
need to have an action plan that encompasses the Ministry of Science and Higher Educations
implementation measures for achieving the goals of the “Digital Ethiopia 2025-A digital strategy
for Ethiopia inclusive prosperity”.
Achieving these grand national, continental, and global agendas required Sub-Saharan African
countries to prepare fully operational and costed Digital Skills Country Action Plans that will help
prioritize investment requirements, undertake regulatory and policy changes, and mobilize funding
with a focus on the Higher Education and TVETs level.
Higher Education and TVETs need to be inclusive up to date engines of national development in
producing skilled manpower and developing innovative approaches fit for the national context and
the economic demand. These institutions have to stir the economy and guide the progress and
satisfy the demands. However, achieving such grand goals seems unlikely unless they reform the
way they do things and embrace the dynamic and highly impacting digital development. As a
result, tertiary education institutions have to play a leading role so that the spillover effect will be
high and have to put digital skills at the center of their transformation.
Cognizant of these contexts, MoSHE has made its main strategic objective to produce digitally
competent citizens, supporting research and administrations using state-of-the-art technology by
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expanding the digital infrastructure in its 10-year strategy (Higher Education and Training
Development Plan (MoSHE, 2020)). MoSHE believes that the absence of digital skills framework,
specific regulations to encourage use of technology and digital content, affordable connectivity
and digital skilled manpower in the sector are factors that will withhold the success of the digital
transformation.
Factors Restraining Development of Digital Skills
• Lack of a Digital Skills Framework
• Absence of specific regulations to encourage use of technology and digital content
• Absence of strategy for affordable connectivity for higher education and TVET
institutions
• Understanding of practical options for using online courses and programs
• Lack of demand driven programs /curriculum
• Lack of standardized digital skills training and assessment system
• Limited digital skills of leaderships at the Ministry, regulatory bodies in higher
education and Training sector (HERQA,HESC, TA, HE and TVET). (Lack of
Commitment and Use of DT)
In order to ensure that the students are prepared for the future jobs , and students of all fields and
background acquire the required digital skills, a Digital Skills Country Action Plan having five
broad coordinated strategies, with detailed actions is developed based on the assessment of the
digital skills demand, the description of the current digital skills supply, and the goals for digital
skills development (intermediate for digital skills all occupations; intermediate, advanced and
highly specialized for ICT professions) of the Higher Education and TVET. Above all each broad
coordinated strategy has activities and cost estimations for implementation
The Digital Skills Country Action Plan (DSCAP) has the following five coordinated strategies.
Strategy 1 - Establish enabling policies and develop Digital Skills Framework: includes developing
enabling policies and regulatory frameworks that support digital skills enhancement and training
efforts of HEIs and TVETs. In addition, this strategy also focuses on developing a national Digital
Skills Framework, to be used by individuals, educational institutions, and employers to identify
Digital Skills required in various occupations through a Digital Skills Assessment system.
Strategy 2 - Reform of Digital Skills programs in HEIs and TVETs including introduction of new
programs: addresses reform of Digital Skills courses at the intermediate level for all students in
HEIs and TVETs and, reform of advanced level as well as reform of highly specialized level
programs in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, and other related
programs.
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Strategy 3 - Enhance use of technology for Administration, Research, and technology transfer, and
teaching learning as well as provision of online courses using Learning Management Systems and
integration of a range of digital tools, in teaching-learning across all HEIs and TVETs.
Strategy 4 – Connect Higher Education and TVET institutions to affordable high-speed broadband
by strengthening the Ethiopian Education and Research Educational Network (EthERNet) and
ensure existence of modern campus networks infrastructure and services.
Strategy 5 - Develop capacity of staff and ensure efficient and digitally enabled business processes
in the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MoSHE), HEIs, and TVETs.
Figure 1: Coordinated DSCAP strategies
It is believed that these five coordinated strategies and sub strategies in each category are
interconnected. The success of one depends on the other and for ease of implementation and follow
up timeline and responsible bodies are indicted for each activity under each sub strategies.
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2. Partnerships
Implementing such a vast plan has never been easy and an individual institution’s task. A
number of international and national organizations and public and private institutions are
required to be part of these initiatives. The partnership expected from these diverse groups is
financial support, capacity development, technical support, and infrastructure. Similarly,
partners that are working together and taking their share are important. International
organizations, multilateral donors and development banks are expected to support the
realization of this plan mainly by availing finance and capacity development programs. Local
organizations and Ministries should also contribute their share in a form of capacity building
and infrastructure sharing. In the past, many of them were supporting transformation in Higher
Education and TVETs and they deserve respect and appreciation. However, their effort can only
be complete and bear fruit while they sustain their support in transforming the system to the
level where the current global development requires which is digital transformation. This can
be achieved by partnering to implement DSCAP.
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3. Potential Risk and Mitigation
As any new plan and its being highly strategic with a number of sub strategies that require new
forms of skill and ways of doing the unusual task, a number of potential risks can be anticipated.
Similarly, the dynamic nature of technology and the experiences transferred from previous reform
initiative in the country could also contribute for the emergence of several risks. The risks could
result from the ambitious demand and objectives set and the rapid change in time. As a result, it
is very pragmatic to anticipate potential risks that are related to finance, leadership commitment,
sectorial coordination, and lack of human resources. As a country with a number of competing
needs and poor infrastructure, the first very likely risk is lack of budget to support IT related
projects such as DSCAP. However, it is expected that development partners and loan provider who
would like to contribute for the national development of Ethiopia could be contacted to mitigate
the budget shortage. It is hoped that this DSCAP clearly show where Ethiopian Higher Education
and TVET institutions are going to go in order to contribute for the success of the nation in its
effort to be a middle-income country and establish a digital economy. As a result, supporting this
plan is contributing for the national transformation and supporting the effort of Africa to achieve
the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
As the DSCAP demands proactive leadership and its implementation affect the whole sphere of
the economic and social development, having a leadership that understands its value and makes a
continuous follow up is vital. In almost all cases on technology initiatives, success highly depends
on the leadership commitment. This challenge could be likely to exist but the efforts being made
by the government to bring young professionals to the for front of the leadership can be considered
as a potential advantage. The time that the document is ready can be considered as an opportunity
to mitigate leadership issue since similar initiatives are given priority by the current government.
Another important risk is related to poor sectoral coordination’s. As it is stated, achieving the
ambitious goals of the DSCAP is not only the task of one or two Ministries rather it involves
several relevant ministries and both private and public stakeholders. Unless these actors are
brought together successful implementation is not likely. Thus, these risks will be addressed by
establishing an advisory council where all the relevant Ministries and both public and private IT
service providers are members.
Last but not least, lack of human resource with the required skills and competence is another risk
to implement the DSCAP particularly in the first five years of the plan. This can be mitigated by
engaging professionals in different sectors, creating awareness, and monitoring and evaluating the
process, developing information sharing platform and building capacities of low-level
professionals. As a result, leaders will be cadres of the digital economy, institutions will revisit
their position and role in the national development and professionals will commit to have more of
them in the system.
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
7
Another risk being emerging recently is the effect of COVID-19. Though the COVID 19 pandemic
is a very strong push factor to embrace DSCAP particularly at the initial phase, its being a hurdle
for the successful implementation is obvious. Thus, some of the 2020 and 2021 activities might
demand more budget and different approach. Anticipating these and readjusting activities as per
the current context is expected from the leadership that will be in charge of this plan.
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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4. Digital Skill Country Action Plan Strategies
The objective of the Digital Skills Country Action Plan is to produce digitally qualified students
who can enter the workforce with intermediate level and advanced skills for the economy and for
the IT and IT enabled service sectors. And the main goals of this digital skill country action plan
are to provide intermediate level of skills to all occupations irrespective of what they are studying;
intermediate, advanced, and highly specialized for ICT professions. Considering this, the below
five broad coordinated strategies, with detailed actions, to achieve these goals were proposed.
4.1. Strategy 1 – Establishing Enabling Policies, Digital Skills
Framework, and Digital Skills Assessment
Recent development and global demands indicate that digitalization has a disruptive and
transformative effect on the overall national economy. In such situations Ethiopia considered
digital transformation as a priority area to achieve the planed prosperity by 2025. To achieve this
plan, tertiary education is a driving force and need to adapt how they deliver teaching, learning
and research in response to unprecedented, market shaping changes to financing and student
expectations (Cisco, 2017). In this effort of adaptation, understanding the relevant policies and
strategies at national and institutional level is fundamental. Strategy 1 reviewed available policies,
implementation guidelines and standards that have effect on digital skills development and digital
economy of the country.
4.1.1. Baseline Status
Basic national policies such as National Information Security Policy (2011) and Science
Innovation and Technology Policy (2012) are in place and indicated that developing science and
technology institutions that focus on producing highly qualified technicians, engineers and
scientists in line with the demand of the national economy; focusing on modifying the balance of
the enrolment numbers of higher education students in favor of the science and technology human
resource development need of the country and conduct practical training in cooperation with
industry; increasing the number of females enrolling in engineering, science and TVET
institutions; and enable the establishment of workforce in manufacturing and service providing
enterprises with the knowledge and skills necessary to learn, adapt and utilize technology are the
ultimate strategies. The National Broadband Strategy which was in place in the 2016 indicates that
the implementation ranges from 2016-2020/21 and made Education one of its target areas. This
strategy required the expansion of the telecom service and the demand from public and private
institutions; however, the strategy misses higher education and TVETs. On the other hand , Digital
Ethiopia 2025 that aspires to transform Ethiopia to prosperity through job creation, foreign
currency generation and efficient services provision indicates that digital skill is fundamental for
the future of the economy and considers the human resource development as an important
ecosystem to realize the digital transformation in manufacturing, Agriculture, IT enabled services
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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and tourism. Similarly, the document calls for improved and ambitious digital skills training and
education. Higher Education and TVET sector must serve as source for the supply of digitally
skilled manpower. Therefore, having have enabling policies and a framework for the digital skills
in the sector is fundamental. As a result, these enabling policies and digital skills framework guide
the reform of the digital skills programs, use of technology in teaching and learning, connecting
institutions to high-speed internet and capacity building and business reengineering aspect of the
digital skills country action plan.
4.1.2. Goals of the Strategy
Based on the reviewed policies, the demand for digitally enabled tertiary education graduate is
vital for the achievement of the grand Digital Ethiopia 2025 strategy. In order to produce the
required human resource, the sector has to establish enabling policies and develop digital skills
framework and institute digital skills assessment so that the sector can supply graduates with
intermediate and advanced level digital skills.
The following are the goals of this strategy
a) Establishing Enabling Policies
Enabling policies make the implementation of the rest of the targets identified by strategy 2,3,4
and 5 simple and well thought. The development of enabling policies that are relevant to the digital
economy in areas related to tertiary education focuses on digital content, e learning, open
resources, intellectual property right, administrative effectiveness, and governance. As a result,
once such a policy is in place in the sector institutions can develop operational institution level
plans.
Once the enabling polices are in place achieving MoSHE’s 10 years development plan that states
digitally competent citizens and supporting research and administrations using state-of-the-art
technology by expanding the digital infrastructure is will assured. Thus until 2025, the enabling
polices to be developed and implemented are:
• Intellectual Property Rights policy
• National Research and Education Network Policy
• Interoperability policy
• Cross boarder data use policy
• Universal access fund policy
• ICT devices and tools Procurement and ICT related HR policy, and
• Taxation policy for digital equipment and services.
These policies will make the digital skills curriculum reform, educational institutions connectivity,
technology use in teaching and learning and capacity building efforts in the HE and TVETs
effective and efficient. The Digital Skills policy and strategies for HEIs and TVETs will guide the
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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curriculum reform, the use of technology in teaching and learning and the digital transformation
of institutions. Thus, the preparation of these high-level policies will be directly connected to the
respective DSCAP Strategies indicated below
Table 1: Required enabling policies
Required Policies Related DSCAP
Strategy
Timeline Responsible body
Digital skills policy for HE and
TVETs
Strategy 2,3,4,5 2020 MoSHE
Interoperability policy Strategy 3 and 4 2021 MoSHE and MInT
Universal access fund policy Strategy 4 2021 MoSHE and MInT
Cross border data use policy Strategy 4 2021 MoSHE and Ethiopian
Communication Authority
National Research and Education
Network Policy
Strategy 3 and 4 2021 MoSHE
ICT device and tools procurement
and ICT related HR policies
Strategy 3 and 4 2021 MoSHE, MFD and Civil service
Commission
Intellectual property right policy Strategy 3 2021 MoSHE and Ethiopian Intellectual
property Office
Taxation policy for ICT equipment
and services
Strategy 3 and 4 2021 MoSHE and MT&I
b) Developing Digital Skills Framework
Another important element that was identified as a starting point for effective and efficient digital
economy is standardizing the digital skills of citizens. The digital skills framework set out key
digital competences and proficiency level that enable individuals, education and training
institutions, and employers to identify the skills that are required in different occupations. It can
help the nation to raise the digital skills proficiency level of the population. The digital skills
framework can support the overall skills framework. Though developing or adapting the
framework requires different stakeholders’ involvement and negotiation, this digital country action
plan outline the steps required to adapt these frameworks so that it will, be relevant and meaningful
to the stakeholders. The institutions and employers also need to have a guiding framework to
evaluate and plan their digital needs. This is done while there is a framework for digital skills.
Thus, the objective of this sub strategy is to adapt a digital skills framework for all professions,
educators, and ICT professionals until 2021.
Table 2: digital skills framework
Activity Related to DSCAP Timeline Responsible Body
Adapting Digital Skills
framework
Strategy 2 and 3 2021 MoSHE and Civil Service
Commission
c) Developing Digital Skills Assessments
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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To make the training and education locally and globally competitive and monitor the progress in
digital skills acquisition amongst higher education and TVET institutions, assessing the standard
is very basic. The assessment of the digital skills can be done based on the digital skills framework
adopted by the country and used as precondition for institutions funding and ratings. This
assessment has to be at institution level and at the level of overall populations at the fundamental
and intermediate level. The assessment indicator and instrument should be mapped with the digital
skills framework and assessment should be conducted in a regular base so that changes can be
measured over time. What is more special assessment of advanced digital skills can be done in
selected areas such as engineering and computer science so that national standards can be
examined through. Thus, the digital skills assessment is anticipated at institutional, national, and
international level. To make assessment part of the digital skills country action, a policy for
assessments will be developed, aiming to certify 100% of the HE and TVETs community until
2030 at institutional and national level. Until 2025, up to 50% of the students at every HEIs and
TVETs will be assessed. In addition, 50% of the educators in HEIs, TVETs, and ICT professionals’
digital skill will be assessed. Similarly, in order to know where Ethiopian graduates and the ICT
professionals are in relation to the world, there will be three stages of assessment that will be 5%
at 2023, 5% in 2026 and 10% in 2030. The first round of the 2023 assessment will help to see the
effect of the change in the curriculum and used to monitor the effect of strategy 2 and 3 of DSCAP.
Table 3: digital skills Assessment
Digital Skills Assessment 2024 2026 2030 Responsible body
National level
students
educators
10%
25%
50%
50%
100%
100%
HERQA
International level
% students
% of ICT professionals
5%
5%
5%
5%
20%
20%
HERQA/ contracted body
4.1.3. Activities
The targets set for Strategy 1 are a bit ambitious but must be done to make the implementation of
the other strategies (strategy 2-5) effective and efficient. Table 4 presents detailed list of activities
to be accomplished to under each sub strategy: sub strategy 1 enabling policies, sub strategy 2
Digital skills framework and Sub-Strategy 3 digital skills assessment. Specific timelines are for
each activity so that implementation and follow up will be time bound. Thus, table 4 indicates list
of activities, timeline, deliverable, and responsible body DSCAP for each strategy implementation.
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
5
Table 4: List of Activities, timeline, and deliverables
No Activity Description Timeline Deliverables Responsible body
Digital Skills policy and Strategy for Higher Education and TVETS
1 Develop Terms of reference for
Digital skills Policy and Strategies
for Higher Education and TVET
revision
Oct.2020 Terms of
Reference and call
for consultants
MoSHE
2 Consultant recruitment Nov.2020 Contract with
consultants signed
MoSHE
3 Desk review of Higher education
and TVET policies, Education
policy and Education Law
Nov.2020 Current status of
Higher education
and TVET policies
(TVET Agency, HEI,
TVETs)
Approval and aligning this
policy with other policies
will be task of MoSHE
4 Stakeholder discussion on draft
Policy and Strategy
Nov.2020 HEI, TVET Agencies,
HESC and HERQA
coordinated by MoSHE
5 Approval of Digital Skills policy
and Strategies for Higher
Education and TVET
Jan.2021 Approved Digital
skills Policy and
Strategies for
Higher Education
and TVETs
MoSHE and All Higher
Education and TVET
institutions
Interoperability policy
1 Develop a Terms of Reference for
Interoperability policy
development
January2021 Terms of reference MoSHE and MInT
2 Consultant recruitment January 2021 Consultants MoSHE
3 Develop Interoperability policy
and guideline
Feb.2021 Draft
Interoperability
Policy for Higher
Education and
TVETS
MoSHE
4 Approve and Implement
Interoperability Policy
Feb.2021 Interoperability
Policy
MInT and MoSHE
Universal Access Fund Policy
1 Develop a term of reference to
review available Universal access
fund policies
Feb.2021 Terms of reference
to develop a
national Universal
access fund policy
MoSHE and MInT
2 Recruit consultants Feb.2021 Draft Universal
Access Fund
policy
Consultants
3 Conduct Stakeholder discussion on
the draft Universal Access fund
policy
March 2021 Revised Universal
Access fund Policy
MoSHE, MoF and MInT
4 Approve National Universal access
fund policy
April- May 2021 Universal Access
Fund policy
MoSHE, MoF and MInT
Cross border data use policy
12 Develop terms of reference to
recruit consultants for Cross
Jan. 2021 Terms of reference
for Cross boarder
data Use Policy
MoSHE and MInT
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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No Activity Description Timeline Deliverables Responsible body
border data use policy
development
13 Assessment of International
experience on Cross border data
use policy and draft national policy
Feb.2021 Draft Cross border
data use policy
Consultants
14 Discussion with stakeholders on
the daft Cross border data use
policy
March-April 2021 Cross border data
use policy
MoSHE, MInT and
Ethiopian Communication
Agency
15 Approval of Cross border data use
policy
June- July2021 Cross border data
use policy
Ethiopian Communication
Agency
National Research and Education Network Policy
1 Develop a Terms of reference for
consultants to the National
Research and Education Network
policy and practice
Jan.2021 Terms of reference MoSHE
2 Recruit consultants Feb.2021 Inception report MoSHE
3 Review the existing policy and
procedures and draft an up-to-date
policy that guides EthERNet
Feb.2021 EthERNet Policy MoSHE
4 Develop EthERNet Roles and
Responsibilities
March2021 EthERNet Roles
and
Responsibilities
Consultants
5 Develop EthERNet’s Policy and
Structure
March2021 EthERNet Policy
and Structure
Consultants and MoSHE
6 Approve EthERNet’s Policy and
Structure
April 2021 Revised EthERNet
Policy and
Structure
MoSHE -Council of
Ministers
ICT device and tools procurement and ICT related HR policies
20 Develop a Terms of reference to
recruit consultants
Feb.2021 Terms of reference MoSHE, MInT and
procurement agency
21 Review existing procurement and
HR policies
Feb.2021 Understanding of
the Current
policies
Consultants
22 Develop ICT device and tools
procurement and ICT related HR
policies
March2021
Draft ICT device
and tools
procurement and
ICT related HR
policies
MoSHE, MInT and
procurement agency
Stakeholder discussion on draft
ICT devices and tools procurement
and ICT related HR policies
April2021 Policy for ICT
devices and Tools
procurement and
Policy for ICT
related HR
MoSHE, MInT, Civil
Service Commission and
procurement agency
Approval of Policy for ICT
devices and Tools procurement
and Policy for ICT related HR
May 2021 Approved policies MoSHE – Council of
Ministers
Intellectual property right policy
Develop Terms of reference to
recruit Consultants
March2021 Terms of reference MoSHE
Develop Intellectual property right
policy
April 2021 Draft Intellectual
property right
policy
Consultants in consultation
with MInT and Ethiopian
Intellectual property office
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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No Activity Description Timeline Deliverables Responsible body
Approval of the Intellectual
property right policy
May/ June2021 Intellectual
property right
policy
MoSHE- Council of
Ministers
Taxation policy for ICT equipment and services
26 Develop Terms of reference to
recruit consultants
March 2021 Terms of reference MoSHE
27 Recruit consultants April 2021 Signed contract MoSHE and MT&I
28 Review existing taxation policy
and develop draft ICT equipment
and services taxation policy
May- June2021 Draft Taxation
policy for ICT
equipment and
services
MoSHE, MT& I and
Customs Authority
Approval of Taxation policy for
ICT equipment and services
July 2021 Taxation policy for
ICT equipment
and services
MoSHE – Council of
Ministers
Developing digital Skills framework
40 Develop Terms of reference to
recruit consultant to adapt digital
skills framework
Jan. 2021 Terms of reference MoSHE
Conduct supply side and demand
side digital skills status
Feb 2021 Digital skills gap
analysis
Consultants
41 Develop or adapt the appropriate
Digital Skills Framework for all
professions
March 2021 Digital skills
framework for all
profession
Consultants
42 Stakeholder dialogue on draft
digital skills framework
March 2021 Digital skills
framework
MoSHE, Civil Service
Commission, Higher
Education and TVET
institutions and employers
Approval of National digital skills
framework
June 2021 Digital Skills
framework for
Ethiopia
MoSHE- Council of
Ministers
Digital Skills Assessment
Develop Terms of reference and
recruit consultants
Sept.2023 Consultant
recruitment
MoSHE-HERQA
43 Develop digital skills assessment
tools at National level
Sept 2024 Assessment Tools MoSHE/HERQA
44 Conduct National digital skills
assessment
Jan.2024/2026/2030 Digitals skill
assessment
MoSHE/ HERQA and
Institutions
45 Conduct International digital skills
Assessment
Jan.2024/2026/2030 Digital skills
Assessment
MoSHE and contracted
consultants
46 Certifying those assessed April
2024/2026/2030
Certification
standard
MoSHE/ Institutions
4.1.4. Implementation Timeline
For the list of the activities identified for this strategy, an implementation timeline set for Sub
strategy one -Enabling policies and sub strategy two- Digital skills framework is year 2020-2021.
The polices and framework are fundamental for the other DSCAP strategies and investment should
be made in putting these sub strategies into action in the given time. As a result, the short-term
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
8
activities are approving this digital country action plan, setting up a proper institutions arrangement
so that terms of references are developed as soon as possible, and consultants will be recruited.
Activities to be implemented Timeline Responsible body
Digital skills policy for HE and TVETs 2020 MoSHE
Interoperability policy 2021 MoSHE and MInT
Universal access fund policy 2021 MoSHE and MInT
Cross border data use policy 2021 MoSHE and Ethiopian Communication Authority
National Research and Education
Network Policy
2021 MoSHE
ICT device and tools procurement and
ICT related HR policies
2021 MoSHE, MFD and Civil service Commission
Intellectual property right policy 2021 MoSHE and Ethiopian Intellectual property
Office
Taxation policy for ICT equipment and
services
2021 MoSHE and MT&I
Adapting Digital Skills framework 2021 MoSHE and Civil Service Commission
Digital Skills Assessment 2024-26
Accordingly, to achieve the stated goals the main short-term activities are
A. Securing funding to develop the enabling policies and digital skills framework
B. Developing terms of references for each policy development activity
C. Recruiting consultants
D. Developing communication and monitoring scheme
4.1.5. Key Performance Indicators (KPI)
The following table shows the key performance indicators for this strategy.
Table 5: Key Performance Indicators for strategy 1
Strategy Indicators Baseline 2020/21 2024 2026 2030
Enabling
Policies
Digital skills policy for HE and TVETs Draft 100%
Interoperability policy None 100%
Universal access fund policy None 100%
Cross border data use policy None 100%
National Research and Education
Network Policy
Draft 100%
ICT device and tools procurement and
ICT related HR policies
None 100%
Intellectual property right policy None 100%
Taxation policy for ICT equipment and
services
None 100%
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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Digital skills
framework
Adapted Digital Skills framework None 100%
Digital Skills
Assessment
National level
% students
%educators
None Preparation
10%
25%
50%
50%
100%
100%
International level
% students
% of ICT professionals
None Preparation
5%
5%
5%
5%
20%
20%
4.1.6. Budget Requirement
In order to put these activities in practice and make the basic policy guidelines in place the
following budget (in thousands of Birr) is proposed as shown in the table below.
Cost of Implementation of Strategy 1 (in thousands)
Sub-strategies -
DSCAP
Total Budget for Strategy 1 in thousands of Birrs
2021 –
Year 1
2022 –
Year 2
2025 –
Year 5
2028 –
Year 8
2030 –
Year 10
Total –
10 Years
1.1 Establish enabling
policies and
regulatory
framework 4,800
15,600
-
-
- 20,400,
1.2 Digital Skills
Framework
9,000 7,800
-
-
- 16,800
1.3 Digital Skills
Assessment
-
-
35,360
40,000
68,000 143,360
Total for Strategy 1 13,800 23,400 35,360 40,000 68,000 180,560
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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4.2. Section-II: Strategy 2 - Reform of Digital Skills Programs
The Digital Ethiopia 2025 strategic plan emphasizes the importance of digital skills by stating
“Digital skills are crucial to enable current and future workers (especially youth) to meet the
employment requirements of a digital economy, embrace innovation and help maintain a
competitive edge.”1. The document also proposed 22 prioritized projects that helps in strengthening
the digital ecosystem of the country. The implementation of these projects cannot be realized
without human resource with advanced and highly specialized level of digital skills. The human
resource at these skill levels has to equip itself with state-of-the-art knowledge in the digital
ecosystem and has to be competent and ready enough to cope-up with the fast-growing technology
in the domain. This requires a continuous review and reform of digital skills programs in Higher
Education (HE) and TVET institutions.
Goal No. 11 of the “Ten-year high-level strategic plan”2 of the Ministry of Science and Higher
Education (MoSHE) states that it is critical to “. . . produce digitally competent graduates and
citizen and improve the digital infrastructure to support education, administration, and research
related activities”. Its further states that: developing enabling policies and standards for digital
skills framework, making timely updates to digital skill programs, enhancing the use of
technologies for education, research, and management activities, availing high-speed broadband
Internet to HE and TVET institutions, and implementing capacity building and
transformation/business process reengineering activities; can enhance digital skills and use of the
technology for national development.
Digital Skills create the ability “… to access, manage, understand, integrate, communicate,
evaluate and create information safely and appropriately”3. The target of digital skills
development is for increased availability of digitally competent workforce and digitally literate
citizens and for enabling every citizen, business, and government to participate in the digital
economy. For proper realization of the digital skills, it is necessary that a digital skills framework
can set out key digital competences and proficiency levels thus enabling individuals, education
and training institutions, and employers to identify the skills that are required in different
occupations. Due to these reasons, many countries across the world are adopting digital skills
frameworks to raise the level of digital skills proficiency in their population. The World Bank
suggests to developing countries to consider adapting existing frameworks such as the EU
DigComp 2.1, the UNESCO Digital Literacy Global Framework, and the European e-Competence
Framework (e-CF) for ICT professionals. Implementing sub strategy two of Strategy one is
developing digital skills framework which will be a guide for the reform of digital programs.
1 Digital Ethiopia 2025, the FDRE, 2020. 2 Ten Year High-Level Strategic Plan, MoSHE, FDRE, 2020. 3 The World Bank DS Programs Guidebook, WB, 2019
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
11
MoSHE will develop the digital skills framework based on best practices and considering the trend
of development in the technology. Then, it will integrate the three levels of digital skills:
intermediate level, advanced level, and highly specialized levels to be critically considered in the
digital programs reform for HE and TVET institutions. These three levels of digital skills are
associated to the digital skills required to be learnt by the students of different educational levels
in HE and TVET institutions. These skills correspond to all non-IT students, students in the IT
related fields in the undergraduate programs, and students in the IR related MSc and PhD
programs.
Strategy 2 of the Digital Skills Country Action Plan therefore deals with the reform of the digital
skills programs in higher education (HE) and TVET institutions in Ethiopia. To be able to plan the
reform and to deal with the implementation of this strategy, relevant baseline data are collected
from secondary sources in two categories: the supply side data and the demand side data. The
supply side data collection revealed the number of HEIs and TVETs by category, the enrollment
status in each category, and the number of academic staff therein. The demand indicator data is
used to visualize the targets in the planning. Then, sub-strategies are identified corresponding to
the goals of the strategy and key activities to be accomplished are identified. Finally, the key
performance indicators and the budget requirements at a high-level are projected. The plan for the
activities in strategy 2 depend on development of the strategy 1 particularly sub strategy one and
two: enabling policies and digital skills framework. The action plans in Strategy 2 considers the
facts and the action plans presented in strategy 3 and strategy 4. The facts and the enrollment data
collected in strategy 2 also served as an input to the planning in strategies 3 and 4.
4.2.1. Baseline Status
The baseline data serves as a basis for comparison with the subsequently acquired or to be
projected data. Without visualizing the baseline data, it will be difficult to perceive the magnitude
of the current requirements and to predict the future needs. To get the baseline data, different
resources and reports had been explored. At an instance where up-to-date data is not found,
considering the year the latest available data is collected, best estimates for some of the current
and the future data status are given based on the trend of change over time since the published data
collection date.
a) Supply Side
The supply side data collection revealed that there are currently 1,906 HEIs and TVET institutions,
of which 1,568 are TVET institutions, 38 are Colleges of Teachers Education (CTE); 50 are
government universities; and 250 are private colleges and universities. In all these institutions,
1,792,386 students were enrolled during the academic year 2018/19. Table 6 shows the baseline
data on number of Higher Education Institutions (HEI) including government HEIs, non-
government / private HEIs, and all TVETs. Table 7 presents the total enrollment in these
institutions in the indicated year and category, while Table 8 presents the number of academic staff
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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in the listed category of HEIs and TVETs and shows that there is a total of 77,850 academic staff.
On Table 7, the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for Higher Education undergraduate program is
reported to be 9.4%. However, the GER for TVET level and College of Teachers Education is not
found in the official statistical publications of the ministry. What is used commonly at MoSHE to
know the rate of increase in student enrollment is the Annual Average Growth Rate (AAGR) of
enrollment. Thus, the AAGR measure of the last nine years as published in the 2018/19 annual
statistical abstract of MoSHE is used to project the enrollment in the public HEIs in the next 10
years of the action plan.
Table 6: Number of Institutions in HEIs and TVETs in Ethiopia
Indicator Description Indicator Baseline Year Source of Data
Number of Higher Education
Institutions:
a) TVET institutions (ISCED4 level
4)
Government TVETs 673 2019-20
FDRE, TVET Agency Report,
2012 E.C. (2019/20)
Private TVETs 838 2019-20 FDRE, TVET Agency Report,
2012 E.C. (2019/20)
Non-Gov. TVETs 57 2019-20 FDRE, TVET Agency Report,
2012 E.C. (2019/20)
Total Number of TVET Institutions 1,568 2019-20 FDRE, TVET Agency Report,
2012 E.C. (2019/20)
b) Institutions offering short-cycle
tertiary programs (ISCED level 5)
College of Teachers
Education (CTE)-
Public
38 2018-19
Education Statistics Annual
Abstract, MoE, 2011 E.C.
(2018/19)
c) Universities (ISCED levels 6-8)
Public Universities 50 2018-19 Higher Education Statistics Annual
Abstract 2011 E.C. (2018/19)
Private Universities
(ISCED levels 6-8) 5 2019-20
Certified private higher education
institutions and their programs,
HERQA, MoSHE, 2012 EC.
(2019/20)
Private Colleges
(ISCED levels 6-7) 245 2019-20
Certified private higher education
institutions and their programs,
HERQA, MoSHE, 2012 EC.
(2019/20)
Total Number of HEIs and TVETs 1,906
Table 7: Enrollment and Gross Enrollment Ratio in HEIs and TVETs in Ethiopia
Indicator Description Indicator Baseline Year Source of Data
Higher Education (Undergraduate)
Gross Enrolment Ratio (ISCED
level 6)
ISCED level 6 9.4% 2015/16 Education Statistics Annual Abstract
2011 E.C. (2018/19), MoE
Number of students in Public
TVET (ISCED level 4) TVET Level I - V 417,724 2019/20
FDRE, TVET Agency Report, 2012 E.C.
(Sem. I - 2019/20)
Number of students5 in Private
TVETs (ISCED level 4) TVET Level I - V 175,283 2019/20
FDRE, TVET Agency Report, 2012 E.C.
(Sem. I - 2019/20)
4 International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 5 In all, non-government and private TVET institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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Number of students in public non-
university tertiary Institutions
(ISCED level 5)
College of
Teachers
Education (CTE)
208,299 2018-19 Education Statistics Annual Abstract,
2011 E.C. (2018/19), MoE
Number of undergraduate students
in Gov. / Public Universities
(ISCED level 6)
STEM
(Band6 1-4) 511,189 2018-19
Higher Education Statistics Annual
Abstract 2011 E.C. (2018/19), MoSHE
G - Band 5 158,376 2018-19 Higher Education Statistics Annual
Abstract 2011 E.C. (2018/19), MoSHE
G - Band 6 183,180 2018-19 Higher Education Statistics Annual
Abstract 2011 E.C. (2018/19), MoSHE
Number of undergraduate students
in Non-Gov. Universities /
Colleges (ISCED level 6)
All Private 138,335 2017/18 Education Statistics Annual Abstract,
2010 E.C. (2017/18), MoE
Total population of students in HEIs and TVETs 1,792,386
Table 8: Number of Academic Staff in HEIs and TVETs in Ethiopia
Indicator Description Indicator Quantity Year Source of Data
Number of Teachers in public
non-university tertiary (ISCED
level 5)
College of
Teachers
Education (CTE)-
Public
3,158 2018-19 Education Statistics Annual
Abstract, MoE, 2011 E.C.
(2018/19)
Number of Teachers/Trainers in
TVET (ISCED level 4) TVET Level I - V 27,899 2019/20
Higher Education Statistics
Annual Abstract 2012 EC.
(2019/20), MoSHE
Number of Academic Staff in
Gov. Universities ISCED level 6 - 8 41,993 2019/20
Higher Education Statistics
Annual Abstract 2012 EC.
(2019/20), MoSHE
Number of Academic Staff in
Private Universities/Colleges
(Full Time staff only)
ISCED level 6 - 7 4,800 2019/20 Higher Education Statistics
Annual Abstract 2012 EC.
(2019/20), MoSHE
Total Number of Academic Staff in HEIs and
TVETs 77,850
b) Demand Side
Demand indicator data is collected mostly from secondary data sources while the rest is acquired
from stakeholders through informal communications. Indicators of demand for Digital Skills from
principal use sectors show that jobs and needs of users will likely expand in the coming years. The
Digital Ethiopia 2025 strategic plan of the government of Ethiopia and other service sectors
indicate that e-Government services will be expanding at a very high proportion in the next five
years and will cover different sectors opening up many job and business opportunities. The telecom
sector is expanding creating opportunities for new services in e-learning, e-commerce, and other
many electronic services. Mobile data service is expected to increase from 22 million in 2019 to
27 million in 2021. Jobs at the telecom sector and banking sector will be requiring more IT
6 Band 1: Engineering & Technology
Band 2: Natural and Computational Sciences
Band 3: Medicine and Health Sciences
Band 4: Agriculture and Life Sciences
Band 5: Business and Economics
Band 6: Social Sciences & Humanities
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
14
professionals at advanced and highly specialized levels. In the different public enterprises, some 9
million jobs will be requiring advanced or highly specialized digital skills.
The media and entertainment sector are becoming more and more dependent on digital services
and will be creating jobs requiring digital skills. The transport and logistics sector transporting
goods from port to the different centers in the country and expansion in the export sector is
requiring digital skills. The transport sector transporting the public at every instance on daily bases
is using digitally skilled employee. A single Uber like Taxi service (called RIDE) in the capital
city is dispatching more than twenty thousand taxis daily. More number of such Taxi services are
coming to the market requiring both the service provider and the service receiver to have at least
an intermediate level of digital skills. Practically, the trend of development shows that there is
practically no work sector that does not require digital skills.
The manufacturing and the construction sectors currently involving some 8 million work force is
getting more and more dependent on machines and devices that are using digital technologies, as
it is the case in the developed nations. This, therefore, requires a work force that is competent in
digital skills at all levels. Table 9 and 10 provide some indicators on demand for digital skills in
the different sectors of the economy of the country.
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
15
Table 9: Indicators of Demand for Digital Skills from Principal Use Sectors (Jobs and Users)
Potential to expand in
next 5 years
Types of digital skills that
will be required
Key Use
Sectors
Area
Specify whether
users, jobs or
number of
service
providers
Number of users, number of
jobs or number of service
providers.
(Very likely, somewhat
likely, not likely)
(Indicate which of the
four proficiency levels
from the Digital Skills
Framework - Basic,
Intermediate, Advanced,
Source
e-Government services Users
# of e-gov. services = 157.
in 2015; # Internet users:
22, 740,000 in 2019
Very likely All levels
Ethiotelecom (2019) &
Ethiopia E-Government
Benchmarking Report, 2015
by KPMG
Government
Government jobs requiring advanced
or highly proficient digital skills. This
includes all levels of the government
including local and city governments.
Jobs 8.7 million Very likely All levelsELMA (2019) giz - Labor
Market Study
Public enterprise jobs requiring
advanced or highly proficient digital
skills. This includes all pubic services
such as police, utilities (water,
electricity, waste, roads etc.) as well
as state-owned enterprises.
Users 9,086,000 population need
digital skills.Very likely All levels
ELMA (2019) giz - Labor
Market Study
Smart phones Users 12,379,927 Very likely Intermediate
First Half Business
Performance Report,
Ethiotelecom (2018/19)
Mobile Internet Users 14,500,000 Very likely Intermediate
First Half Business
Performance Report, ethio
telecom 2011 EC (2018/19)
Telecommunic
ations
Current number of employees at
mobile phone providersJobs
22,000 (total at Ethio-
telecom)Very likely All levels
Report of Ethiotelecom
(2019/20)
Current number of mobile money
accountsUsers About 5 million Very likely Intermediate
No published data, estimate
is given
Fixed Internet Users 212,200 Very likely All levelsEthiotelecom (2019/20
Report)
Number of farmers implementing
smart irrigation technology.Users NA Likely Advanced, Intermediate
No published data found to
quantify
Number of active/usable tractors in-
countryService provider NA Very likely Advanced, Intermediate
No published data found to
quantify
AgricultureNumber of food processing or food
storage companies in-countryService provider NA Very likely Advanced, Intermediate
No published data found to
quantify
Numbers of companies offering drone
surveying of agricultural land.Service provider NA Likely Advanced, Intermediate
No published data found to
quantify
Number of active MRI or CT scan
machines for use in-country.Service provider < 100 Very likely Advanced, Intermediate
No published data found to
quantify
Healthcare Jobs requiring digital skills in the
areas of health administration
including electronic health
management systems.
Jobs 491, 372 Very likely Advanced, IntermediateEthiopian Academy of
Sciences (EAS) 2016
Number of installed laptops and
tablets in schools in countryService provider NA Very likely Advanced, Intermediate
No published data found to
quantify
Education Jobs requiring digital skills - teaching Jobs 688,536 Very likely All levels
Education Statistics Annual
Abstract 2011 E.C.
(2018/19). MoE.
Jobs requiring digital skills -
education administrationJobs 250,000 Very likely All levels
Ethiopian Academy of
Sciences (EAS) 2016
Jobs requiring digital skills Jobs 448,759 Very likely All levels Ethiopian Academy of
Sciences (EAS) 2016
Banking
Number of users of banking services Service provider35% of Adults in 2017 had
Bank AccountsVery likely Intermediate
M. Bessir, Financial
inclusion in Ethiopia: 10
takeaways from the latest
Findex, June 18, 2018
Number of insurance companies
operating in-countryService provider 17 Very likely Advanced, Intermediate
National Bank of Ethiopia-
Annual Report 2018-19
Mobile-banking Users About 4 million Very likely Advanced, IntermediateNo published data, estimate
is given
Number of international cities
reachable via a direct flight from the
capital city
Service provider 23 Very likely Advanced, Intermediate
https://www.ethiopianairlin
es.com/aa/
book/network/domestic
Transport and
Logistics
Annual volume of containers (if there
is a port)Service provider NA Very likely Advanced, Intermediate
No published data found to
quantify
Number of active drivers in-country
on Uber and all Uber-style shared
mobility platforms
Jobs > 20,000 Very likely IntermediateNo published data found,
estimate given
E-commerceNumber of delivery persons operating
in-countryService provider NA Very likely Intermediate
No published data found to
quantifyBusiness
Process
O utsourcing
(BPO )
Number of jobs in the BPO field Jobs NA Very likely Advanced, IntermediateNo published data found to
quantify
Media and
entertainment
Number of jobs at radio and TV
broadcasters operating at the national
and state/provincial level
Jobs NA Very likely Advanced, IntermediateNo published data to give
the number
ConstructionNumber of jobs requiring advanced or
highly specialized digital skillsJobs 1,370,609 Very likely Advanced, Intermediate EAS (2019)
ServicesNumber of jobs requiring advanced or
highly specialized digital skillsJobs 18,686,905 Very likely Advanced, Intermediate
ELMA (2019) giz - Labor
Market Study
ManufacturingNumber of jobs requiring advanced or
highly specialized digital skillsJobs 6,329,000 Very likely Advanced, Intermediate
ELMA (2019) giz - Labor
Market Study
Indicators of demand for digital skills
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
16
Table 10: Indicators of demand for digital skills in ICT and Telecommunications Industries
Sector Sub-sector
Current
number
of jobs
Potential to expand in next 5 years
(Very likely, somewhat likely, not likely)
Technician Professional Senior
professional Advanced
Highly
specialized
Software
development NK7 Very likely Very likely Very likely Very likely Very likely
ICT Hardware NK Very likely Very likely Very likely Very likely Very likely
Computer Network NK Very likely Very likely Very likely Very likely Very likely
Mobile towers NK likely likely likely likely likely
Telecoms Fiber optic
networks NK likely likely likely likely likely
4.2.2. Goals of the Strategy
The main goal of Strategy 2 is: reforming the digital skills programs in Higher Education and
TVET institutions in Ethiopia. In addition to the fundamental or the intermediate level digital skills
that citizen usually acquire through formal or informal ways; digital skills are taught at three
different higher levels in Ethiopian higher education. These are: digital skills training at BSc level
(a four-year training), at MSc level (two-year training after a BSc in IT related fields) and a four
year or more training for PhD after an MSc in IT related fields. Until the details of the contents are
specified in the country’s digital skills framework as stated in strategy 1, the general guideline of
the UNESCO digital skills framework is considered as a reference to associate the levels of digital
skills programs in the county. Thus, the four years of the BSc level training is considered as an
Advanced-Level digital skill, and the MSc and PhD level programs in IT fields are categorized as
highly specialized digital skills considering the curriculums of the programs. In the two years of
the MSc level training, in practice, students deal with specialized knowledge acquisition and do a
master’s thesis work that requires the creation of knowledge or an innovative practical result which
takes a standard work of one academic year. While in the PhD programs in the country are designed
to require a one year highly specialized and research-oriented courses followed by three years of
intensive research work that involves knowledge creation and at least two scientific publications
in reputable journals or recognized international conference proceedings.
Therefore, to attain the goals of strategy 2 in the context of the country’s higher education system,
the following five sub-strategies are planned to be realized.
• Sub-Strategy-2.1: Reform and implement Intermediate Level Digital Skills for all
Students in HE and TVET institutions,
• Sub-Strategy-2.2: Reform of the undergraduate programs in IT related fields
(Advanced Level Digital Skills),
7 NK- Not Known or No published data is available.
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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• Sub-Strategy-2.3: Reform of the highly specialized programs in IT related fields,
(graduate level programs),
• Sub-Strategy-2.4: Reform of Key TVET Courses/ programs, and
• Sub-Strategy-2.5: Implement Rapid Skill Programs and online Training for Digital
Skills.
Accordingly, in Sub-strategy 2.1, it is planned to train about 1.2 million students in HEIs and
TVETs, of which about 315,000 students are in TVET institutions, at intermediate level digital
skills by 2025 and about 5.1 million HE and TVET students by 2030 (see Table 11). The projected
enrollments for the year 2025 and 2030 are computed considering the Annual Average Growth
Rate (AAGR) of enrollment of 10% in the undergraduate program, which is the average growth
rate during the last nine years8.
Table 11: High-level Goals of the Sub-strategy 2.1 in the Time Frame Planned.
No. Sub-Strategy Grouping Baseline By 2025 By 2030
2.1 Intermediate level Digital Skills for all students in HEIs and
TVETs irrespective of their field of studies.
a) % of institutions offering intermediate
level digital skills training
Gov. Universities 50 50% 100%
Gov. TVETs 674 30% 100%
Private-TVETs 838 30% 100%
Non-Gov. TVETs 57 30% 100%
NG-U/Colleges 250 30% 100%
CTEs 38 30% 100%
b) Number of students enrolled in above
institutions who will receive
intermediate level skills
G–STEM (Band 1 – 4) 511,189 452,801 1,458,482
G - Band 5 158,376 140,286 451,865
G - Band 6 183,180 162,257 522,634
G, P &NG-TVET 593,007 315,164 1,691,918
NG-U/Colleges 138,335 73,521 394,686
G-CTE 208,299 110,704 594,301
c) Total number of students 1,792,386 1,254,734 5,113,886
In Sub-Strategy 2.2, which is related to undergraduate IT related programs, update of curriculums
and training of students in the reformed advanced digital skills programs will be made. In this sub-
strategy, it is planned to enroll some 82 thousand students in IT related fields in 2025 and more
than 134 thousand students in the fields by 2030 (See table 12 below).
8 Higher Education Statistics Annual Abstract 2011 EC. (2018/19), MoSHE
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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Table 12: High-Level Goals of the Sub-Strategy 2.2 (reform of the undergraduate programs in IT fields) in the
Time Frame Planned
No. Sub-Strategy Grouping Baseline
(2018/19)
By
2025
By 2030
2.2 Advanced Digital Skills for students in Electrical
Eng., Computer Science, and other related fields9.
a) Number of Universities that will update
courses
All Gov. Unis10 50 50 50
b) Number of courses that will be updated11 All Unis 30 15 10
c) Number of courses that will be developed12 New Courses NA 3 6
d) Number of students that will be enrolled in
new courses (or new programs)
With average
estimate NA 2,000 5,000
e) Number of students that will be enrolled in
updated courses
Based on AAGR
of enrollment 45,470 82,349 134,157
In sub-strategy 2.2, it is projected that HEIs will enroll students in the different IT related fields
such as in Computer Science, Information Systems, Computer Engineering, and other related
programs as presented on Table 13 below. The numbers are based on the baseline data collected
in 2013/14 and considers the annual average growth rate of enrollment (which is currently 10%)
to project the enrollment for the academic years of 2024/25 and 2029/30.
Table 13: Projected Enrollment in Undergraduate Programs in the IT Related Fields for 2025 & 2030
No. Specific Programs
Total Enro.
2006 EC
(2013/14)
Enrolment
(2018/19)
Projected
2025 GC
Projected
2030 GC
1 Computer Science 10,594 17,062 30,226 48,679
2 Information Systems / Science 3,607 5,809 10,291 16,574
3 Information Technology 6,382 10,278 18,209 29,325
4 Software Engineering 542 873 1,546 2,490
5 Electrical & Computer Eng. 2,723 4,385 7,769 12,512
6 Computer & Engineering 1,207 1,944 3,444 5,546
7 Geo-Information System 168 271 479 772
8 Information and Communication Tech.
(ICT) 233 375
665 1,071
9 Library and Information Science 154 248 439 708
10 Business Information System 1,223 1,970 3,489 5,620
11 Management Info. Sys. (MIS) 717 1,155 2,046 3,295
Total Enrollment 27,550 44,370 78,603 126,592 IT related fields in all 4th Generation Government Universities13 1,100 1,746 2,565 Additional enrollment in preferred programs or in new programs NA 2,000 5,000 Grand Total Enrollment (Gov. Universities + Private HEIs in IT) 45,470 82,349 134,157
9 This refers to the programs such as Electoral & Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, Software Engineering, etc.
10 There is at least one at most four Computer Science and related programs in all government universities.
11 There are about 30 courses in the BSc programs of the IT related fields. Some 15 of them are projected to be updated before 2025 and an additional 10 will have to
be updated until 2030 considering the continuous technological development in the fields. 12 New specialty programs have to be introduced based on the demand of the new digital economy. 13 Enrollment of the 4th generation public universities were not included in the baseline data of 2013/14.
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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In the implementation of sub-strategy 2.3, graduate programs in IT related fields have to also
reform their programs to the level set as highly specialized digital skills. Considering the 20%
annual average growth rate of enrollment in the graduate programs for the last eight years, it is
projected that student enrollment in the MSc level trainings in IT related fields will raise to more
than four thousand in 2025 and that number will increase to more than ten thousand in 2030. In
the PhD programs of IT related fields, where research and innovation are the primary focus, it is
projected that the number of student enrollment will raise to 241 in 2025 and that number will
increase to 485 in 2030, considering the 15% annual average growth rate of enrollment at this level
of training (see Table 14 below).
Table 14: High-level Goals of the Sub-strategy 2.3 (reform of the MSc and PhD programs in IT related fields)
in the Time Frame Planned
No. Sub-Strategy Grouping Baseline
(2018/19)
By
2025
By
2030
2.3 Highly specialized digital skills for students in CE,
Computer Science, Information Systems, and
other related fields
MSc and PhD Programs
that deal in highly
specialized digital skills
a) Number of Universities that will update courses 16 20 33+
b) Number of courses that will be updated 10 5 6
c) Number of courses that will be newly developed NA 4 8
d) Number of students that will be enrolled in
updated courses in MSc programs in IT
1,400 4,180 10,402
e) Number of students that will be enrolled in new
courses in MSc programs.
NA 360 480
f) Number of students in PhD level training in IT
related fields14
120 241 485
TVET institutions, which train students with skills specific to the needs of agriculture,
manufacturing, and the service sectors, also reform their programs to equip their students with the
required level of digital skills. TVET students have to acquire intermediate level digital skills
before they complete their studies. The number of students that will be enrolled in updated courses
and acquire intermediate level digital skills will reach 315,164 in 2025 and by 2030 that number
will increase to 1,691,918 (see Table 15). Expanding the ICT programs in TVETs and enabling
the students in the program to better meet the market demand is an important activity that has to
be realized.
Furthermore, equipping trainees of the College of Teachers Education (CTE) with the intermediate
digital skills is critically important, since it is this group of trainees who can impact the more than
20 million school children in pre-primary, elementary and junior secondary schools in the country.
14 Currently, some four public universities are offering PhD level training in IT related fields.
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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Table 15: High-level Goals of the Sub-Strategy 2.4 (reform of TVET Courses) in the Time Frame Planned
No. Sub-Strategy Grouping Baseline By 2025 By 2030
2.4 Intermediate level skills for students in TVET
institutions
a) Number of TVET institutions that will
update courses
Government Owned
TVET Inst. 674 308 1,168
Private TVET Inst. 837 283 995
Non-Government
TVET Inst. 57 17 57
b) Total TVET institutions that will update
courses
All TVET
Institutions 1568 608 2,220
c) Number of courses / programs that will be
updated 1 3 5
d) Number of courses that will be newly
developed NA 2 4
e) Number of students that will be enrolled in
updated courses15 593,007 315,164 1,691,918
In addition to the formal classroom-based trainings, rapid skilling programs, online trainings,
blended course offerings and certifications on selected digital skill types have to be introduced to
fill the skill gap in attaining the intermediate DS level of all students in HEIs and TVETs. This
will also help to overcome the semester course load and schedule congestions in many academic
programs, since online trainings can be made based on the convenience of the learner. Sub-
Strategy-2.5 deals with the introduction of online trainings, blended form of course offering and
rapid skill programs for enhancing the digital skills of students in HEIs and TVET institutions. To
realize this, detail review and planning on the requirements of digital skills in the different
disciplines in HEIs and TVETs, studies on the skill gap in the industries and the service sector in
the country, best practices on online trainings, and establishment of partnerships with online and
distance training organizations will have to be made. Based on this, the number of students that
will be enrolled in rapid skilling and online training programs in HEIs and TVETs is projected to
be more than 750 thousand in 2025 and that number will grow to more than 2.5 million by 2030
(see Table 16).
Table 16: High-level Goals of the Sub-Strategy 2.5 (Rapid Skilling Programs) in the Time Frame Planned
No. Sub-Strategy Grouping Baseline By 2025 By 2030
2.5 Rapid Skilling Programs:
• Number of students that will be
enrolled in Rapid Skilling and
online programs in HEI and TVETs
All HEIs and
TVET Institutions 1,792,386 > 1.2 million > 4.5 million
15 Based on the current and planned enrollment by TVET Agency, which is 589,950, and 1,057,934 by 2025 and 2030, respectively. Starting from the current almost
0%, it is assumed that 30% of TVET students will be enrolled in the updated courses by 2025 and 100% by 2030.
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
21
4.2.3. Activities
Achieving the intended goals of strategy 2 requires the right planning, a good organization, and
adequate funding and budgeting. It also needs the major conditions such as those presented below,
during the early period of the implementation:
• Access to digital devices to all students in HE and TVET institutions. The ministry in
collaboration with stakeholders will avail digital devices (such as Laptops, Tablets or
Smartphones) to students and faculty as part of the education program. Based on the situations,
different options (Laptops, tablets, Smart phones, etc.) have to be made available to students
so that they can buy with a reasonable price or have to be given a chance of loan to acquire
digital devices. Facilitating the process for a decent type of computing device to students and
staff will create a better learning and skill acquisition environment and help them to do their
level best to meet the present and the future digital skill needs.
• Free campus wide access to Internet. Wi-Fi everywhere and anytime within campus serves to
attain the purpose of digital skills development. Full access to Internet in every campus (or a
free campus wide connection 24/7) in HE and TVET institutions is a necessity.
• Appropriate number and qualification level of faculty in IT related fields. Increasing the
number and capacity of existing academic staff with highly specialized digital skills in IT fields
and staff in other fields with a minimum of intermediate digital skills is critical in the skill
development of students.
• Adequate level and type of course materials or content for in-class and online trainings. To
execute the reform of digital skill programs, appropriate content for the learning community
should be in place. There are plenty of online materials that are accessible free or with minimal
cost. Exploiting the available resource in addition to preparing tailored content for the desired
skill development has to be made.
• Introduce rapid skilling and certification programs. Introducing certification programs on key
digital skills and developing a testing and evaluation scheme for the same has to be given
importance. The design and development of course content for rapid skilling programs has to
be in place to support the formal digital skill programs.
The following list presents the list of activities in strategy 2.
Sub-
Strategy
Activity
a. Design the content of the Intermediate Level Digital Skills to be offered as common to all students
in HE and TVET institutions and identify the commonly practiced digital systems or tools in each
specific field of study.
a) Considering the existing fundamental course(s) design or reform the curriculum to the
level required and select pertinent tools for each specific program,
b) Prepare/ select content and method of delivery and assessment, and
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
22
Sub-
Strategy
Activity
c) Implement the training program to all students.
b. Reform of the undergraduate programs in IT Related fields (Advanced Level Digital Skills).
a) Review existing undergraduate level IT related programs in all HEIs,
b) Reform the curriculum to the level of Advanced Level Digital Skills as in the digital
skills framework of the country (to be dealt with in strategy 1 of this document), and
c) Design the content, the methods of delivery and assessment.
c. Reform of highly specialized DS Programs in IT Related fields, (graduate level programs).
a) Review existing graduate level IT related programs (MSc and PhD),
b) Revise the curriculums to the state-of-the-art level of highly specialized digital Skills,
considering the digital skills framework.
c) Design the content, the methods of delivery and assessment,
d) Assess staff requirement and recruit staff at the required level.
d. Reform / Integrate key Digital Skills Courses in TVET Institution
a) Assess the status of digital skills trainings in TVET institutions,
b) Review the ICT programs in TVET Institutions,
c) Identify Industry requirement on TVET level ICT Job demand
d) Integrate the training of Intermediate level digital skills to all TVET students,
e) Reform the ICT programs based on job market requirement
e. Implement online Training and Rapid Skill Programs for Digital Skills.
a) Identify digital skill gaps that can be filled by rapid skilling and online trainings in all
the level programs
b) Design courses for rapid skilling and online trainings
c) Design content and method of delivery and assessment
d) Identify partner organization for the delivery (local or international)
4.2.4. Implementation Timeline
In order to achieve the goals of the strategy, the aforementioned key activities have to be done
within the implementation timeline during the early preparatory year to launch the first five-year
plan. The table below presents the list of activities that has to be conducted to launch the reform
and realize the action plan for all level DS in all HEIs and TVETs.
Table 17: Timeline for the reform of all level DS in all HEIs and TVETs
Sub-
Strategy
Activity Timeline Responsible Body
3. Design the content of the Intermediate Level Digital Skills to be offered as
common to all students in HE and TVET institutions and identify the commonly
practiced digital systems or tools in each specific field of study.
July 2021 MoSHE; Heads of
programs in HEIs
d) Considering the existing fundamental course(s) design or reform
the curriculum to the level required and select pertinent tools for
each specific program,
e) Prepare/ select content and method of delivery and assessment,
and
f) Implement the training program to all students.
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
23
Sub-
Strategy
Activity Timeline Responsible Body
4. Reform of the undergraduate programs in IT Related fields (Advanced Level
Digital Skills). July 2021
MoSHE; Heads of
programs in HEIs and
TVETs
d) Review existing undergraduate level IT related programs in all
HEIs,
e) Reform the curriculum to the level of Advanced Level Digital
Skills as in the digital skills framework of the country (to be dealt
with in strategy 1 of this document), and
f) Design the content, the methods of delivery and assessment.
5. Reform of highly specialized DS Programs in IT Related fields, (graduate level
programs). July 2021
MoSHE; Heads of
programs in HEIs
e) Review existing graduate level IT related programs (MSc and
PhD),
f) Revise the curriculums to the state-of-the-art level of highly
specialized digital Skills, considering the digital skills
framework.
g) Design the content, the methods of delivery and assessment,
h) Assess staff requirement and recruit staff at the required level.
6. Reform / Integrate key Digital Skills Courses in TVET Institution July 2021 MoSHE; Heads of TVET
programs.
f) Assess the status of digital skills trainings in TVET institutions,
g) Review the ICT programs in TVET Institutions,
h) Identify Industry requirement on TVET level ICT Job demand
i) Integrate the training of Intermediate level digital skills to all
TVET students,
j) Reform the ICT programs based on job market requirement
7. Implement online Training and Rapid Skill Programs for Digital Skills.
February
2022
MoSHE; Heads of
programs in HEIs and
TVETs
e) Identify digital skill gaps that can be filled by rapid skilling and
online trainings in all the level programs
f) Design courses for rapid skilling and online trainings
g) Design content and method of delivery and assessment
h) Identify partner organization for the delivery (local or
international)
8. Avail the necessary number and level of qualification of academic staff, devices,
and infrastructures to launch the DSCAP,
September
2021
MoSHE; Heads of
programs in HEIs
9. Launch the implementation of the DSCAP October
2021
MoSHE; Heads of
programs in HEIs
4.2.5. Key Performance Indicators
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are necessary to measure the progress of the goals set in the
implementation of the DSCAP strategy. The table below presents the major KPIs and the timeline
for their accomplishment.
Table 18: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Sub-
Strategy Indicator Baseline
Timeline
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2030
2.1. Reform and implement
Intermediate Level Digital Skills
(ILDS) for all Students in HE and
TVET institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
24
Sub-
Strategy Indicator Baseline
Timeline
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2030
a) ILDS curriculum Design
and pertinent content
and tools selected in
each program
ILDS not
delivered to all
students
(except to
those in IT
related fields)
100%
b) % of students trained in
ILDS in HEIs NA 15% 25% 40% 50% 100%
c) % of students trained in
ILDS in TVETs NA 5% 15% 25% 35% 100%
d) % of students trained in
ILDS in CTEs NA 5% 15% 25% 30% 100%
e) Number of students
trained in Intermediate
level DS
NA 200,000 500,000 750,000 1,013,462 3,710,323
2.2. Reform of the Undergraduate
Programs in IT Related fields
(Advanced Level Digital Skills)
a) Existing undergraduate
level IT related
programs in all HEIs
reviewed and reformed.
Current IT
related BSc
programs are
not set to the
level of the
state-of-the-art
advanced level
100%
b) % of students trained in
advanced level DS in
HEIs
NA 15% 25% 40% 50% 100%
c) Number of students
trained in advanced
level DS
NA 45,470 55,000 65,000 82,349 134,157
2.3. Reform of Highly Specialized DS
Programs in IT Related fields,
(graduate level programs)
a) Existing MSc level
programs in IT related
programs reviewed and
reformed.
IT related MSc
programs not
in the state-of-
the-art highly
specialized
level
70% 100%
b) Existing PhD level
programs in IT related
programs reviewed and
reformed.
IT related PhD
programs not
in the state of
the art highly
specialized
level
70% 100%
c) % of students trained
in highly specialized
level DS in IT related
fields in HEIs (MSc
programs)
NA 10% 25% 35% 50% 100%
d) Number of students
trained in highly
specialized level DS in
IT related fields in HEIs
(MSc Programs)
1,400 NA 1,600 1,800 2,000 2,255 3,631
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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Sub-
Strategy Indicator Baseline
Timeline
2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2030
e) % of students trained
in highly specialized
level DS in IT related
fields in HEIs (PhD
programs)
NA 20% 30% 40% 50% 100%
f) Number of students
trained in highly
specialized level DS in
IT related fields in HEIs
(PhD Programs)
100 NA 120 150 180 200 300
2.4. Reform of Key TVET Courses
a) Identify Industry
requirement on TVET
level ICT Job demand
50% 100%
b) Digital Skill training in
TVET Institutions
assessed and reviewed
30% 100%
c) % of students trained
in ILDS in TVETs 30% 100%
d) Number of students
trained in Intermediate
level digital skill
593,007 177,902 1,057,934
e) Number of students in
ICT programs in TVET NA 5,000 10,000 20,000 30,000 100,000
2.5. Implement online Training and
Rapid Skill Programs for Digital
Skills
a) % of digital skill gaps
that can be filled by
rapid skilling and online
trainings in all the level
programs identified.
30% 100%
b) % of delivery of rapid
skilling and online
training established
locally or in partnership
with stakeholders.
30% 100%
c) % of delivery of rapid
skilling and online
training in different
programs.
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 100%
4.2.6. Budget Requirement
The activities presented in the previous section require capital and recurrent budget. The high-
level expected capital and recurrent costs for the reform of the digital skills programs in HE and
TVET institutions and the budget required for the major activities of the implementation of the
reform is presented in this section. The cost planning is prepared with the GESCI Total Cost
Ownership (TCO) tool by UN ICT Task force16. The cost planning considers key facts and
16 http://tco.gesci.org/
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
26
conditions such as the number of HE and TVET institutions, the number of students in these
institutions, the current critical requirements in the context of the country and the institutions, etc.
The following tables present the planned capital and recurrent costs for the implementation of
the reform of DSCAP programs. The cost planning is organized by the sub-strategies and
considers Capital and Operational Expenditures under the cost headings of ICT Infrastructure;
Learning platforms and DLR; Professional Development; Monitoring, Evaluation and
Learning; and Program Management. At the end of the section, the total budget summary for
Strategy 2 is given.
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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Capital Cost for Sub strategy 2.1 Intermediate Level Digital Skills Development at HE Institutions (All professions)
Capital Expenditure (in thousands of Birr)
Cost Headings
2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023
-
Year
3
2024
-
Year
4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year
10
Total –
10 Years
ICT Infrastructure 2,183,000 1,106,60
0
3,289,600
Professional Development 36,720 30,000 30,000 96,720
Monitoring, Evaluation and
Learning 38,400 38,400 38,400
115,200
Programme Management 3,920 3,920
7,840
Total Cost
79,040
2,213,000
-
-
38,400
1,140,52
0
-
38,400
-
- 3,509,360
Operational cost for Sub strategy 2.1 Intermediate Level Digital Skills Development at HE Institutions (All professions)
Operational Expenditure (in thousands of Birr)
Cost Headings
2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year
5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028
-
Year
8
2029
-
Year
9
2030 -
Year 10
Total –
10 Years
ICT Infrastructure 108,000 54,000 162,000
Professional Development 15,200 16,000 16,000 16,000 16,000 79,200
Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning 800 800 800 4,000 800 800 2,400 800 4,000 15,200
Programme Management 5,800 4,120 5,360 4,120 5,400 4,320 5,560 4,360 5,560 5,120 49,720
Total Cost 21,000 128,920 6,160 20,920 25,400 59,120 22,360 6,760 6,360 9,120 306,120
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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Total cost for Sub strategy 2.1 Intermediate level skills Development at HEI and TVET level (All professions)
Total Budget for Sub-Strategy 2.1 (in thousands of Birr)
Description
2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year 10
Total –
10 Years
Total budget 100,040 2,341,920 6,160 20,920 63,800 1,199,640 22,360 45,160 6,360 9,120 3,815,480
Capital Cost for Sub strategy 2.2 Advanced Digital Skills (University Level)
Capital Expenditure (in thousands of Birr)
Cost Headings
2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year
10
Total –
10 Years
ICT Infrastructure 336,000 336,000
Learning platforms and DLR 1,700,000 1,700,000
Total Cost 1,700,000 336,000 - - - - - - - - 2,036,000
Operational cost for Sub strategy 2.2 Advanced Digital Skills (University Level)
Operational Expenditure (in thousands of Birr)
Cost Headings
2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year 10
Total -
10 Years
ICT Infrastructure 28,640 19,256 19,256 19,256 30,296 67,256 19,256 19,256 19,256 241,728
Learning platforms and DLR 612,000 3,600 3,600 3,600 3,600 610,800 3,600 3,600 3,600 3,600 1,251,600
Total Cost 612,000 32,240 22,856 22,856 22,856 641,096 70,856 22,856 22,856 22,856 1,493,328
Total cost for Sub strategy 2.2 Advanced Digital Skills (University Level)
Total Budget for Sub-Strategy 2.2 (in thousands of Birr)
Description
2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year 10
Total –
10 Years
Total budget 2,312,000 368,240 22,856 22,856 22,856 641,096 70,856 22,856 22,856 22,856 3,529,328
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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Capital Cost for Sub strategy 2.3 Highly Specialized Digital Skills (University Level)
Capital Expenditure (in thousands of Birr)
Cost Headings
2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year
10
Total –
10 Years
ICT Infrastructure 0 14,000 14,000 14,000 14,000 18,000 18,000 18,000 18,000 18,000 146,000
Professional Development 12,600 93,600 0 0 0 16,000 0 0 0 0 122,200
Total Cost 12,600 107,600 14,000 14,000 14,000 34,000 18,000 18,000 18,000 18,000 268,200
Operational cost for Sub strategy 2.3 Highly Specialized Digital Skills (University Level)
Operational Expenditure (in thousands of Birr)
Cost Headings
2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year
10
Total –
10 Years
ICT Infrastructure - 32,000 32,000 32,000 32,000 48,000 48,000 48,000 48,000 48,000 368,000
Professional Development - 3,600 3,600 3,600 3,600 3,600 3,600 3,600 3,600 3,600 32,400
Total Cost - 35,600 35,600 35,600 35,600 51,600 51,600 51,600 51,600 51,600 400,400
Total cost for Sub strategy 2.3 Highly Specialized Digital Skills (University Level)
Total Budget for Sub-Strategy 2.3 (in thousands of Birr)
Description
2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year 10
Total –
10 Years
Total budget 12,600 143,200 49,600 49,600 49,600 85,600 69,600 69,600 69,600 69,600 668,600
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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Capital Cost for Sub strategy 2.4 Intermediate level Digital Skills programs at TVET level
Capital Expenditure (in thousands of Birr)
Cost Headings
2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year 10
Total –
10 Years
ICT Infrastructure 1,100,000 580,000 1,680,000
Professional Development 8,000 6,000 14,000
Physical Infrastructure 943,600 636,480 1,580,080
Total Cost 8,000 2,043,600 1,222,480 3,274,080
Operational cost for Sub strategy 2.4 Intermediate level Digital Skills programs at TVET level (ICT professions)
Operational Expenditure (in thousands of Birr)
Cost Headings
2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year 10
Total –
10 Years
ICT Infrastructure 0 0 60,000 60,000 60,000 60,000 90,000 105,000 105,000 105,000 645,000
Professional Development 0 269,600 0 0 0 195,840 0 0 0 0 465,440
Total Cost - 269,600 60,000 60,000 60,000 255,840 90,000 105,000 105,000 105,000 1,110,440
Total cost for Sub strategy 2.4 Intermediate level Digital Skills programs at TVET level (ICT professions)
Total Budget for Sub-Strategy 2.4 (in thousands of Birr)
Description
2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year 10
Total –
10 Years
Total budget 8,000
2,313,200 60,000 60,000 60,000 1,478,320 90,000 105,000 105,000
105,000 4,384,520
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Capital Cost for Sub strategy 2.5: Rapid Skilling Programs
Capital Expenditure (in thousands of Birr)
Cost Headings
2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year 10
Total –
10 Years
ICT Infrastructure 12,000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12,000
Total Cost 12,000 - - - - - - - - - 12,000
Operational cost for Sub strategy 2.5: Rapid Skilling Programs
Operational Expenditure (in thousands of Birr)
Cost Headings
2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year 10
Total –
10 Years
Professional Development - 4,000 4,000 4,000 4,000 5,600 5,600 5,600 5,600 5,600 44,000
Total Cost - 4,000 4,000 4,000 4,000 5,600 5,600 5,600 5,600 5,600 44,000
Total cost for Sub strategy 2.5: Rapid Skilling Programs
Total Budget for Sub-Strategy 2.5 (in thousands of Birr)
Description
2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year 10
Total –
10 Years
Total Budget
12,000
4,000 4,000
4,000 4,000 5,600
5,600
5,600
5,600
5,600
56,000
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
32
Total Budget (Capital and Operational) for Strategy 2 – Digital Skills Country Action Plan of Ethiopia
Strategy 2 – Reform of
Digital Skills programs Total Capital and Operational Cost (in thousands of Birr)
Strategies / Sub-strategies - DSCAP 2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year 10
Total –
10 Years
2.1 Intermediate level skills
Development at HE and
TVET level (All professions)
100,040
2,341,920
6,160
20,920
63,800
1,199,640
22,360
45,160
6,360
9,120
3,815,480
2.2 Advanced Digital Skills
(University Level)
2,312,000
368,240
22,856
22,856
22,856
641,096
70,856
22,856
22,856
22,856
3,529,328
2.3. Highly Specialized Digital
Skills (University Level)
12,600
143,200
49,600
49,600
49,600
85,600
69,600
69,600
69,600
69,600
668,600
2.4 Intermediate level Digital
Skills programs at TVET
level (ICT professions)
8,000
2,313,200
60,000
60,000
60,000
1,478,320
90,000
105,000
105,000
105,000
4,384,520
2.5 Rapid Skilling Programs
12,000
4,000
4,000
4,000
4,000
5,600
5,600
5,600
5,600
5,600
56,000
Total for Strategy 2
2,444,640
5,170,560
142,616
157,376
200,256
3,410,256
258,416
248,216
209,416
212,176
12,453,928
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
33
4.3. Section-III: Strategy 3 - Enhance Use of Technology in Teaching
Learning, Research, and Administration
The digital skills country action plan helps Ethiopia to create a digitally skilled workforce from all
academic fields of HEIs and TVETs. The overall digital skills country action plan is divided into
5 interlinked strategies and Enhance Use of Technology in Teaching Learning, Research, and
Administration is one of them. This strategy intends to make use of technology such as LMS and
connectivity infrastructure, outlined in Strategy 4, to develop the capacity of students, instructors,
and academic and administrative staffs in HEIs as well as TVETs in the use technology to improve
their day-to-day academic activities, such as teaching and learning, research, administration, and
community service.
This strategy makes use of the digital skills courses designed in Strategy 2 to be delivered using
technology to pupil in HEIs and TVETs. The implementation of the delivery shall be supported by
policies identified in strategy 1.
All students graduating from these HEIs and TVETs shall have intermediate digital skills
knowledge to handle tasks in their field of study using digital skills. The capacity of the faculty to
use digital skills tools in blended teaching shall be developed through similar intermediate level
digital skills courses. Moreover, the digital leadership of MoSHE, HEIs, and TVET management
and staff to implement the digital skills action plan shall be developed with capacity building
programs as stipulated in strategy 5. In time, all instructors in HEIs and TVETs need to have
intermediate level digital skills so that they can blend digital tools in all their teaching learning.
Furthermore, the administrative systems in HE and TVET Institutions provide functions such as
human resources management, payroll, finance, inventory, and procurement. Additionally,
universities need student information systems that provide student management functionality from
admission to graduation, financial aid (cost-sharing), and advising. In addition, implementing
standardized and shared student management system, faculty management systems and human
resources management systems that take advantage of the flexibility of emerging web-based
service architectures should be developed and made available to all HEIs and TVETs to ensure
better management and enable data sharing across the institutions.
Sub-Strategies of Strategy 3
There are seven sub-strategies in Strategy 3 of the digital skills country action plan. These are:
Sub-Strategy 3.1: Expanding and Improving Online Course Work (Distance
Learning and Brick and Mortar Settings)
This sub-strategy aims to meet the growing demands for HE and TVET to improve access to online
courses. The access will increase not only within campus but outside campus as well. The digital
skills courses defined by level and profession in strategy 2 shall be provided face to face and online
supported by policy for their implementation.
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
34
The face-to-face harmonized Fundamentals of ICT course will give students the chance to learn
about computers, online technology, the internet, LMS etc. so that the intermediate level digital
skills courses can be provided online via LMS to students. These digital skills courses shall be
delivered to massive number of students via technology. The online technology will also be used
for delivering rapid skilling programs in any or all of the HEIs, TVETs, as well as other leadership
trainings mentioned in Strategy 5.
Sub-Strategy 3.2: Expanding and Improving the Use of Technology for Teaching
and Learning in Classrooms
This sub strategy intends to improve and expand students’ use of technology in attending their
courses. Regular courses will be delivered face to face in classrooms as usual and the digital skills
tools necessary to better understand and deliver the course will be offered online via LMS.
Academic program units in all HEIs and TVETs shall define the types of digital skills tools that
are required by their courses. The most common cross departmental tools such as: Office
Applications, Basic English Skills, Report Writing and Communication Skills, and Citation and
Referencing Skills can be offered initially in blended form with the corresponding courses using
LMS. Experiences from these courses will help to further add additional digital skills tools to be
purchased and learned by the relevant students in blended form.
Instructors/faculty who do not have the beginner level digital skills knowledge must also register
and take the face-to-face Fundamentals of ICT course so that they can take intermediate level
digital skills courses related to the courses they teach via LMS. This allows students and faculty
to take the suggested coursework and apply digital skills and competencies such as
communication, collaboration, research writing and problem solving in their teaching learning. It
also offers students strategic and purposeful opportunities to acquire practice and reinforce digital
skill competencies for full mastery. By improving the use of communication, collaboration, and
research tools, students, and faculty in HEIs and TVETs can increase the quality of teaching
learning as well as research conducted and published.
Sub-Strategy 3.3: Implement a Unified Automated Management Information
System for HEIs and TVETs
This sub strategy aims to create ways in which MoSHE can continue to provide an integrated
computerized campus management system for HE and TVET institutions’ functions which covers
the entire life cycle of students from admissions to graduation/alumni. A student’s enrolment,
teacher management, tests, assignments, library, dormitory, eligibility, results, marksheets and
degree certificates shall be available on a single platform. In addition, centralized ERP systems
will be developed/purchased to support HE and TVET institutions to better handle their day to day
financial, human resource, procurement, and other services using digital tools. The developed
system should be
• Flexible enough to support education systems across the board including a blended form
of learning,
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
35
• Integrate mobile and social-enhanced solutions for students, faculty, and administrators,
• Support for real-time analysis of data to enable more efficient operations and to
strategically support the transformation of the institution through the use of advanced
analytics,
• Less disruptive during the implementation processes, especially during the transition from
legacy systems to newer systems, and
• Modular with the ability to integrate emerging technologies and standards.
Sub-Strategy 3.4: Developing ICT Supported Teaching-Learning Space
This sub strategy aims to develop and maintain ICT supported teaching-learning space that can
help students and teachers to implement technology-based learning as well as support special needs
curriculum. While the growth in HE and TVET has been phenomenal in Ethiopia in recent years,
through the establishment of new universities and TVETs, the design of the new buildings and
space did not take the future of flexible and online learning into consideration.
Sub-Strategy 3.5: Implement Assistive Technologies to Meet the Needs of the
People with Speech, Dexterity, Vision, Hearing and Cognitive
Difficulties
This sub strategy aims to implement assistive technologies to support special needs students and
faculty in their teaching learning and research activities. The obligation of HE and TVET
institutions to ensure equity of access for physically challenged students, faculty and staff implies
that support to people with speech, dexterity, vision, hearing and cognitive difficulties through
assistive software and hardware across the HE and TVET institutions is critical.
Sub-Strategy 3.6: Support Research and Innovation Using Digital Technologies
Today, ICTs serve as a core research infrastructure because access to international labs, research
data, and other resources can be facilitated through it. All research activities are becoming
increasingly dependent on ICT and data to be manipulated by computers. A national e-research
infrastructure is a cross-cutting capability that serves research collaboration, modelling, data, and
data analysis needs and supports all other research infrastructure. It comprises advanced networks,
identity management systems, high performance and cloud computing resources, infrastructure for
management and access to research data and the integration of all those elements to create digital
environments that the researchers use on a day-to-day basis.
Sub-Strategy 3.7: Implement Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Open Educational
Resources (OER)
This sub-strategy aims to implement AI and adopt and implement OER in HE and TVET
institutions, as necessary.
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
36
The opportunities and challenges that AI could bring to HE and TVET institutions is significant.
For example, chatbots can provide personalized help and guidance to answer questions for students
in the area of student academic issues, university regulations, course management, reference
material etc. just as academic advisor but available 24/7. Moreover, AI labs can help students and
faculty to conduct specialized research in the area of Artificial Intelligence and its subfields.
Open Educational Resources (OER) are free and openly licensed educational materials that can be
used for teaching learning, research, community service, and other purposes. Teaching learning
and research materials in any medium, digital, or otherwise, that reside in the public domain or
have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation, and
redistribution by other with no or limited restrictions. This strategy aims to adopt and strengthen
OER in HE and TVET institutions.
4.3.1. Baseline Status
The current status of HE and TVET institutions in regard to digital skills courses and offering them
via technology is next to nil. The implementation of digital tools to support the day to day
administrative, student management, and research related activities is individualized, and
institution based. Moreover, these digital tools exist mainly in universities and not in CTEs and
TVET institutions.
High school students from Grade 9-12 are required to take Introduction to ICT course. The content
of the textbook covers basic content in ICT. However, most public schools especially those outside
of Addis Ababa do not have facilities such as: computer labs and the teachers to cover the contents.
Some private schools in the capital city may provide the full content, but they account for less than
5% of the total high school enrollment.
Universities, public and private, include Introductory ICT course in their curriculum and provide
it to all their students. This course delivered in one semester (16 weeks) normally includes
laboratory exercises which requires computer labs equipped with computers connected to the
internet. However, this course is not based on any standard. It is designed by the HEIs themselves
and may not have the same content in all universities. This Introductory ICT course have been
around for many years and are updated but not against any technology standard.
In addition to the basics, recently (as of the current 2019/20 academic year), a new course
Introduction to Emerging Technologies is included to be taken by all undergraduate students in
HEIs. The content of this course include introduction to IoT, data science, AI, machine learning
etc. all packed in one.
TVET institutions on the other hand do not offer Introductory ICT course to their students unless
they are enrolled in the ICT related departments. This course is delivered face to face.
Therefore, the digital skills content for all the literacy levels (fundamental, intermediate, advanced,
and specialized) have to be created from scratch and a mechanism for delivering them shall be
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
37
designed. Currently, Ethiopian HE and TVET institutions do not offer online courses and do not
use standard LMS except for some departments that use Moodle or other tools for file sharing.
When it comes to implementation of integrated systems for administration, student management
and research, HEIs especially universities use their own independently purchased student
management systems whereas financial management is mostly handled by a system which is
integrated with the Ministry of Finance. Moreover, digital library and other support systems are
implemented in only a few universities on individual basis.
Table 19: Baseline Data for Distance learning
Baseline for online course
work in both distance
learning and brick and
mortar settings.
Distance learning takes place in some private HEIs. However, public HEIs and
TVETs do not offer online courses. Recently though several universities are
delivering courses online at least to their graduate students because of COVID 19
shutdowns.
Some of the universities are providing open book exams and home take
assignments for course assessment. However, no standard exists on what shall be
fulfilled for online learning to be considered successful. In addition, universities
have also conducted face to face as well as virtual thesis defense programs for
their graduate students
Baseline data on the
current use of online
coursework to teach
intermediate level digital
skills in both distance
learning and brick and
mortar settings.
Intermediate level digital skills courses are not given to faculty or to students in
all HE and TVET institutions.
Baseline data on current
use of technology for
administrative, research,
and student management
tasks
HEIs especially universities are using their own independently developed or
purchased student management systems. Financial management is mostly
supported by a system which is integrated with the Ministry of Finance.
Moreover, digital library and other support systems are implemented in only a few
universities
Baseline on the use of
assistive technologies for
disabilities
Some HEIs (not TVETs and CTEs) have basic assistive technology to a certain
extent.
Baseline on existence of
ICT Supported Teaching-
Learning Space
Some HEIs (not TVETs and CTEs) have limited number of smart classrooms
within their campuses. However, the use of these smart classes for the intended
purpose is limited.
Baseline on the status of AI
and OER
AI and OER are not currently implemented in any of the HEIs and TVETS.
Although there is some preliminary research being conducted in some of the
research universities
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
38
Table 20: Desired state of this strategy by 2025 and 2030 for digital skills
Year Goal
Desired state by
2025, and 2030
The desired goal is to have all students in public HE and TVET institutions to be trained in
intermediate level digital skill courses. This can be achieved in 2025 by putting in place a
policy to enforce all students entering HE and TVET institutions to take the fundamental
digital skill course face to face by updating the content of Introduction to ICT course, which
is already offered in most curriculums in HEIs.
This will give HE and TVET institutions as well as MoSHE a year to prepare for the online
delivery of the intermediate level digital skills courses identified by the program units via
LMS. In the meantime, MoSHE can select and build the capacity of local HE and TVET
institutions to support the delivery of digital skills in blended form along with the regular
classes.
Moreover, the LMS should allow organizations who are interested to take the digital skills
online courses in a rapid skilling scheme to be given the opportunity and get certified. That
is, the digital skills courses should serve not only HE and TVET institutions faculty and
students, but also anyone who is interested to develop their digital skills.
Existing initiatives
in support of
expanding and
improving online
course work
(distance learning
and brick and
mortar settings)
There are some initiatives on the side of the Ethiopian government to scale up the digital
skills literacy level of its citizens. In this regard, the following can be mentioned
1. The National Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Policy and
Strategy. Some of the desired outcomes of this policy include
• Produce a knowledgeable and highly skilled ICT labor force for enabling the
country to develop and use ICT more effectively, and
• Create a digitally literate population capable of using ICT to transform their
standards of living and who can not only consume but also produce digital
content.
2. Digital Ethiopia 2025. Some of the initiatives include:
• Create an enabling legal and system framework for E-Services,
• Design electronic portals and piloting enablers such as E-Payment, E-Signature,
and E-Receipts, and
• Fully integrate E-Services with end-to-end transactions.
3. Ethiopian e-Government Strategic Implementation Plan 2020. This plan has
initiatives that help the DSCAP strategy stating:
• A holistic training program should be established, and
• The development of relevant e-Gov policies and standards to guide the behavior
of Government staff in relevant domains.
Hence, students graduating from HE and TVET institutions to join the public or the
private sector need to be digitally skilled.
Expected
difference/progress
that will be made
with the plan
Provision of digital skill courses in HE and TVET institutions in all academic programs at
least in intermediate level to all students and faculty will provide nationwide digital skills
literacy in Ethiopia.
By 2025, students graduating from HE and TVET institutions will have intermediate level
digital skills to make use of technology in their jobs as well as their daily life.
To this end, all public HE and TVET faculty shall be trained in intermediate level digital
skills by 2025/26 Academic year.
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
39
Year Goal
This implies that at least 20% of faculty in every institution shall be trained in Intermediate
Digital Skills each year. This enables them to use digital skills in their courses to make sure
that their students shall have intermediate level digital skill when they graduate.
4.3.2. Goals of the Strategy
The following table shows the goals/objectives of the sub-strategies defined for Strategy 3.
Table 21: Goals of the sub-strategies for strategy 3
Goals Measurable goal Indicators
Sub-strategy 3.1:
Expanding and
Improving Online
Coursework
(Distance Learning
and Brick and
Mortar Settings)
High-level goal: 3.1
a) To offer one course (Fundamentals of ICT: by
updating content of the existing course) to all new
entry students in HE and TVET institutions face
to face.
b) To offer the Fundamentals of ICT course to
faculty of HE and TVET institutions based on
need. c) To Revise Emerging Technologies course to be
more focused on providing Digital Skills, and
offer it online to all students and faculty
1. % of academic staffs in public HE
and TVET trained with
intermediate level digital skills
2. % of faculty taking the
Fundamentals of ICT courses
3. % of faculty and students with
know how to take a course via
LMS and will utilize the LMS to
post and access assignments.
Sub-strategy 3.2:
Expanding and
Improving the Use of
Technology for
Teaching and
Learning in
Classrooms
High-level goal: 3.2
a) To offer the most common intermediate
digital skills courses online.
b) To train faculty in all HE and TVET institutions
to embed/use technology in teaching as well as
research by 2025.
1. % of program units in HE and
TVET institutions who select the
digital skill tools for their courses
2. % of faculties in HE and TVET institutions who offer their
courses in blended form.
3. % of digitally skilled students who
graduate from public HE and
TVET institutions
Sub-strategy 3.3:
Implement a Unified
Automated
Management
Information System
for HE and TVET
Institutions
High-level goal: 3.3.
a) To establish standardized core enterprise
systems.
b) To establish a platform for sharing enterprise
applications, policies, methodologies tools, and
resources,
c) To adopt an Enterprise Architecture approach
for developing integrated enterprise solutions
for the institutions,
d) To implement integrated single windows
solutions based on Enterprise Architecture.
1. Developed enterprise architecture
2. Unified Automated Management
Information System Implemented
(No. of modules implemented)
3. % of HE and TVET institutions
getting the services
4. % of HE and TVET students
benefiting from Biometric ID
5. SLA and Issue Tracking developed
6. DW and BI Solution developed
7. % of functional units getting the
SLA, DW and BI
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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Goals Measurable goal Indicators
e) To use a standardized and shared Campus
Management Systems in all HE and TVET
institutions
Sub-strategy 3.4:
Developing ICT
Supported Teaching-
Learning Space
High-level goal: 3.4.
a) To establish a Centre for Technology Enhanced
Learning (CTEL) in all HE and TVET
institutions
b) To review the requirements for teaching and
learning spaces, computer laboratories and
associated infrastructure in all HE and TVET
institutions
c) To establish a plan for the upgrade of the
technological functionality of existing facilities
d) To ensure that new expansion plan in all HE and
TVET institutions accommodate for an online
and ICT enabled classrooms.
1. No of CTELs established
2. ToR for Tech supported classes
prepared
3. No of HE and TVET with Tech
supported teaching learning
space
4. No of classrooms with Tech
support
5. Cloud based LMS implemented
Sub-strategy 3.5:
Implement Assistive
Technologies to Meet
the Needs of People
with Speech,
Dexterity, Vision,
Hearing and
Cognitive Difficulties
High-level goal: 3.5.
a) To conduct assistive technologies research.
b) To set up assistive technology labs with state-of-
the-art equipment to help students and faculty as
desired.
c) To provide support with a range of available
technologies based on plan and needs
1. No of HEIs conducting Assistive
Technology research
2. No of Assistive tech labs
established
3. No of software/tools purchased
4. No of I-Pads with the necessary
tools distributed to assist the
disabled
Sub-strategy 3.6:
Support Research
and Innovation Using
Digital Technologies
High-level goal: 3.6.
a) To strengthen EthERNet to become a key player
in supporting national research and education
activities.
b) To establish a capability at all HE institutions to
support research workflow and researchers.
c) To develop capacity for research data
management, sharing and archiving of research
results, setting benchmark data of local and
international standard research.
d) To develop a nation-wide plan for sharing
scarce HPC resources; and
e) To promote the open data and open science
initiatives.
1 Anti-plagiarism software
implemented
2 No of labs established
3 No of software/tools purchased
4 National research data service
available at EthERNet
5 Coordinated utilization of HPC
6 Standardized unified management
information system implemented
7 Established unified digital library
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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Goals Measurable goal Indicators
Sub-strategy 3.7:
Implement Artificial
Intelligence (AI) and
Open Educational
Resources (OER)
High-level goal: 3.7.
a) To improve teaching learning in higher
education through the use of smarter and
intelligent technologies.
b) To improve assessment and evaluation of
research using intelligent systems such as anti-
plagiarism checking systems.
c) To predict student and staff performances and
provide support to improve the same.
d) To improve HE and TVET institutions day to day
administrative activities.
e) To support the development of teaching learning
technologies such as LMS, digital information
management, resource allocation and
management.
f) To support the development and creation of
green environment such as Data Center
Optimization, water/waste grid management.
g) To improve the safety and security of students
and faculty within HE and TVET institutions
through the use of AI
1 No of Established AI offices
2 No of AI Labs established in HEIs
3 No of Collaborating HEIs and
TVETs in sharing resources
4 No of Established OER offices
5 No of OER collaborations
established
6 No of MOOC developed
7 Augmented and Virtual Reality
implemented
4.3.3. Activities
Several activities are defined to achieve the goals of each of the sub-strategies.
Sub-Strategy 3.1 – Activities to Expand and Improve Online Coursework
The following are the key activities used to reach the sub-strategic goal of expanding and
improving online course work.
• Identify team to revise courses: ensure expertise in course design, pedagogy, digital
technologies, online learning, digital tool selection,
• Adopt digital skills quality standards: this needs to happen at the Ministry level, and
will need to happen by mid of 2021 so that revised courses are built with these
standards in mind
• Research best practices in digital skills courses,
• Revise basic introductory skills (i.e., the already existing Introductory ICT) course,
• Revise Emerging Technologies course to include hands-on instruction in intermediate
digital skills and for online delivery,
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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• Select LMS and other digital tools necessary for Intermediate Digital Skills, and
• Post revised courses on LMS for online and/or blended delivery.
Sub-Strategy 3.2 – Activities to Expand and Improve the Use of Technology for
Teaching and Learning in Classrooms
The following are the key activities used to reach the strategic goal of expanding and improving
the use of technology for teaching and learning in classrooms.
• Academic program units select the digital software/tools required to support the
courses,
• HE and TVET institutions acquire the selected tools,
• Select trainers to be trained on the selected tools,
• Train the selected trainers in Fundamentals of ICT course,
• The trained faculty in turn train their colleagues on the digital tools,
• Courses in the academic units will be offered in blended form with the digital skills
software/tools, and
• Revise the academic staff evaluation forms to include use of technology in teaching
learning.
Sub-Strategy 3.3 – Activities to Implement a Unified Automated Management
Information System
The following are the key activities used to reach the strategic goal of implementing a unified
automated management information system for HE and TVET institutions.
• Assemble ERP project team.
• Create ERP implementation plan.
• Carry out a comprehensive assessment of the current business processes and
requirements in HE and TVET institutions,
• Prepare the infrastructure/hardware for deployment,
• Implement Enterprise Architecture Project,
• Knowledge Transfer and Technology Ownership included as part of the project,
• Implement student identification - Biometric registration of students in HE and TVET
Sub-Strategy 3.4 – Activities to Develop ICT Supported Teaching-Learning Space
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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The following are the key activities used to reach the strategic goal of developing technology
supported teaching learning space.
• Establish a Centre for Technology Enhanced Learning (CTEL) in all HE and TVET
Institutes,
• Populate the center with qualified personnel,
• Create Technology Enhanced Active Learning environments and instructional spaces,
• Review curriculums to create flexible and technology-enhanced pedagogy,
• Support and advise educational technology projects and engage with faculty and
students on issues and advances on technology-based education,
• Review the requirements for classrooms, computer laboratories and associated
infrastructure in HE and TVET institutions,
• Re-design existing space to create more flexibility for teaching learning,
• Upgrade the technological functionality of existing facilities (i.e. furniture,
multimedia rooms)
• Perform maintenance of all teaching-learning facilities regularly,
• Develop new building codes that support technology enhanced learning making
blended learning (face-to-face and online) a reality, and
• Make sure all new buildings have Internet and wireless networks, electric and fiber
optics outlets, and learning furniture and technologies integrated into their designs.
Sub-Strategy 3.5 – Activities to Implement Assistive Technologies for Special
Needs Students and Faculty
The following are the key activities used to reach the strategic goal of implementing assistive
technologies for special needs students and faculty.
• Establish a dedicated team on assistive technologies in all ICT Services Departments
of HE and TVET institutes,
• Establish assistive technologies lab with state-of-the-art equipment for special needs
students and faculty,
• Provide support with technology based on plan and needs - such as text-to-speech and
speech-to-text software, a screen reader, note-taking solutions, magnification
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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products, and iPads equipped with educational apps to help students, faculty, and staff
with speech, dexterity, vision, hearing, and cognitive difficulties, and
• Research new ideas on assistive technologies resources from advanced countries in
order to learn about new developments in the area and ensure students, faculty and
staff are aware of and get access to the latest tools.
Sub-Strategy 3.6 – Activities to Support Research and Innovation Using Digital
Technologies
The following are the key activities used to reach the strategic goal of supporting research and
innovation using digital technologies.
• Establish an academic cloud that allows the research community in Ethiopia to share
computational models, software tools and data,
• Establish a national research data service at EthERNet with the aim of improving
research collaboration nationally and internationally,
• Establish HPC lab at EthERNet,
• Strengthen digital libraries and access to digital collections,
• Develop library space as platform for learning and collaboration,
• Promote information literacy, and
• Prepare librarians to deliver digital-enabled services.
Sub-Strategy 3.7 – Activities to Implement Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Open
Educational Resources (OER)
The following are the key activities used to reach the strategic goal of implement Artificial
Intelligence (AI) and Open Educational Resources (OER).
• Establish an AI office in each campus or college/institute depending on feasibility and
structure of the HEI with access to AI laboratories within or outside the country,
• Populate the AI offices with the necessary manpower from the relevant departments
within the university and from the industry,
• Set up AI laboratory with the ability for high performance computing, access to large
amount of data (example different types of corpus),
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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• Collaborate with other HE and TVET institutions within the country to learn from
one another and support each other in terms of data availability, staff/expert
exchange, product sharing etc.
• Collaborate with international organizations working on AI to learn from one another
and improve the activities of the HE and TVET institutions,
• Ensure that HE and TVET institutions share their computing resources, inventions,
research outputs, data, etc. with each other,
• Establish a team for adoption and implementation of OER at institutional level,
• Prepare plan for acquisition of OER and capacity building,
• Prepare guideline for OER administration,
• Conduct capacity building program, and
• Develop a plan for development of OER and Massive Open Online Courses
(MOOCs).
Quality Standards
The following table shows the quality standards to evaluate the quality of online courses work in
terms of its delivery and evaluation. Development of a quality standard from scratch is
cumbersome and time taking. Therefore, adoption of an already existing quality standard from
tested standards such as the United Nations or European Union is recommended. This quality
standard for Ethiopia shall be developed by 2020/21 academic year.
Table 22: Quality standards for online courses
Quality Standards to
adopt and evaluate
quality of online
coursework
Rationale to support the
adoption of these
standards
Organizations/agencies
to involve in adoption
and the timeline for
approval
Standards
support for
strategy goal(s)
Quality standards will be put
in place to implement:
• optimal ways to deliver
content
• optimal ways to assess
learning
• optimal ways to provide
support services
Higher Education Relevance
and Quality Agency
(HERQA) is responsible for
such activities.
These standards have been
implemented by several
countries and are tested in
real environments for their
success.
Moreover, adopting a tested
standard for quality
assurance is the best option
for Ethiopia rather than
going through all the
HERQA, MoSHE, AAU
being the oldest university
in the country with the
necessary expertise, and
MInT can work together
and adopt a quality
standard.
The overall responsibility
of assembling teams from
each of these stakeholders
will be the responsibility of
MoSHE. The quality and
The adopted
standards will
help in developing
and/or selecting
up to the standard
digital skills
courses that
enable HE and
TVET faculty and
students to
support teaching
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
46
The Agency can adopt an
international standard from
the United nations or the
European Union to implement
the optimal standard for all
activities.
process of development
from scratch.
standards framework shall
be approved and
implemented by 2020/21
academic year.
learning with
digital skills.
Course Selection, Faculty Development, Minimum Standards.
The courses to be offered need to be selected, prioritized, and properly administered for faculty
and students. The table below presents the course selection and faculty development plan for this
strategy.
Table 23: Course Selection and Faculty Development
Courses to be offered
online to meet the goal
of expanding and
improving online
coursework
Reason for selecting the
courses
Institutions to
offer these
courses
Strategy to
develop faculty
to teach these
courses
Minimum
standards &
guidelines for
faculty
• The first year shall be
reserved for face to
face by updating the
Introductory ICT
course as beginners’
digital skills course for
every student and
faculty in all HE and
TVET institutions.
• The selected digital
skill software/tools by
each academic unit
will be offered in
blended form to all
students. Faculty. Will
take these courses
using rapid skilling
scheme.
• The updated
Fundamentals of ICT
course will enable
students and faculty to
know the basics of
computers and how to
use the internet and
LMS.
• The selected
intermediate level
digital skills courses
will be offered in
blended form along
with the regular
courses to improve
understanding of the
courses better and be
digitally skilled citizen
on graduation
• Digital skills
knowledge helps to
collaborate, write
better reports, and
term papers, as well as
perform better on the
courses.
• All HE and
TVET
institutions
including CTEs
will offer the
digital skills
courses to all
students and
faculty.
• The digital
skills courses
will be offered
online and in
blended form
• The courses
will be hosted
at EthERNet on
the LMS
• Faculty from
all HE and
TVET
institutions
will be
selected as
trainers.
Then, training
of trainer’s
program can
be
administered
• The trained
trainers will
then deliver
the
Fundamentals
of ICT course
to the rest of
their
respective
faculty.
Faculty should
pass both the
Fundamentals
of ICT and the
selected digital
skill courses to
teach blended
courses in
their
department.
Online Course Management
Management of online courses is a critical task for the success of this strategy. Several approaches
exist to handle online course delivery. Online course manager could be hired, capacity of
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
47
universities can be developed to handle the management, or a special unit with the necessary
manpower could be established for online course management. The table below shows the strategy
to handle online course management.
Table 24: Approach for online course management
Strategy for online
course management
Courses housing
(LMS, current faculty and student usage
by percentage)
Course Management Strategic
investments
HERQA, MoSHE
(through EthERNet)
and Addis Ababa
University computing
departments can
handle the
management of the
digital skills courses
• The LMS and the online courses shall be
hosted at EthERNet (MoSHE)
• EthERNet is equipped with better
connectivity and High-Performance
Computing Data Center to host the online
courses. It also connects most public HEIs
in Ethiopia. CTEs and TVET institutions
are yet to be connected.
• Some HE and TVET institutions use
open-source online course management
Moodle for simple uploading of course
materials such as slides and notes at
department level.
• Open source LMS such as Moodle will
not be appropriate for a nationwide online
course management platform. Hence, a
high quality and well tested professional
LMS system is necessary to embark on a
nationwide delivery of digital skills
program online or in blended form.
• IT related computing
departments within HE
and TVET institutions can be responsible for
the management of the
courses.
• These departments are
currently responsible
for delivering the
Introduction to ICT
and Emerging
Technology courses for
all students in all
departments within
their college.
The Ethiopian
Government has
planned to work and
invest in digital
skills as can be seen
from the recently
approved digital
skills transformation
strategy.
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
48
3.1.1 Digital Tools to be Used in Service of the New Online Courses
Digital tools such as LMS are necessary for the success of the digital skills country action plan.
The following table shows the tools used and their usage as well as those needed in the future.
Table 25: Digital tools and their usage
Tool Type Tools to be
used in
service of new
online courses
Current
Faculty
Usage of
targeted
tools17
Current
Student
Usage of
targeted
tools
Tool Plans
(New tools
needed to
meet goals
)
Tool Plans
Purpose of these tools?
Learning
Management
System
None None LMS To offer digital skills courses
for students and faculty at
HE and TVET institutions
online and in blended form
Data Analytics
Platforms
SPSS, R,
Smart PLS
MS-Excel etc.
Most
researchers
and
graduate
students
Few Analysis of primary data
collected or secondary data
that already exist
Content Delivery
and Presentation
tools
MS-Power
point
Most
teachers
Some for
presentation
To provide content to
students and faculty for
research, presentation, and
teaching learning
Assessment,
Proctoring and
Quizzing tools
• e-mail,
Telegram,
• LMS
forms
• Most
• Few
• Few
• Most
• Few
• Few
For students to work on their
assignments and for faculty
to assess them
Content, Coaching
and Aggregator
tools
• None • None To be
decided
(TBD)
Research and
Organization tools
Project
management
tools
• Few Most
researchers
and graduate
students
TBD To write appropriate reports
with proper citation,
referencing and organization
by faculty and students
Communications
tools
• Email,
• social
media,
• portal
All
Most
Few
All
Most
Few
TBD For faculty and students to
communicate with each other
for assessment, reports,
collaboration etc.
Mobile
Applications
• Email,
SMS,
Meet,
• All
• Few
• All
• Few
TBD To communicate with one
another, to attend online
classes, etc.
17 All (90-100%), Most (75%-89%), Some (40%-60%), Few (10%-39%), None
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
49
Tool Type Tools to be
used in
service of new
online courses
Current
Faculty
Usage of
targeted
tools17
Current
Student
Usage of
targeted
tools
Tool Plans
(New tools
needed to
meet goals
)
Tool Plans
Purpose of these tools?
Other Digital
Tools
• Digital
Library
• Staff eval
system,
• ISMIS
• Few
• Few
• All
• Few
• Few
• All
• To access published and
unpublished resources
from digital libraries,
• To evaluate performance
of faculty,
• To manage student
enrolment, course
administration and
grading
• No TVET or HEI uses a proper learning management tool except Moodle for some basic
slide and file sharing
Access to Devices and Learning Center Plans
Digital devices are critical for students and faculty to access the digital tools and all the online
courses to be offered via the LMS. Access to digital devices shall be facilitated to students via
cost-sharing schemes for regular undergrad students and long-term loan mechanism for other
graduate and continuing education students as well as faculty. The table below shows the strategy
for access to digital devices.
Table 26: Access to digital devices
Access to
devices on
campus
Access to devices
off campus
Student to
device ratios at
targeted
institutions
Targeted
ratios with
this
strategy
(given the
levels of
ambition
and
enrolment
targets)
Device access plans (on and
off campus, explanation of
how students will access
devices and estimated
numbers of devices to reach
targeted ratios)
All
Public
HEIs
ICT related
departments
have computer
labs.
• 1:10 ratio,
For non-IT
departments,
almost none
• None
• Most for
graduate
students
• Few for
undergrad
students
• 1:10 on
average for
computing
departments
• 1:100 for
non-
computing
departments
20-23% of
regular
(non-
paying)
undergrad
students in
public HEIs
have access
to digital
devices by
2021/22
academic
year
On Campus: Undergraduate
students can be provided
with laptops or tablets.
However, evening/paying
students should use the
comp labs on campus or
bring their own device
Off Campus: Ethio telecom
can get involved in providing
free access to EthERNet
server as it has for the
National digital library
http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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Access to
devices on
campus
Access to devices
off campus
Student to
device ratios at
targeted
institutions
Targeted
ratios with
this
strategy
(given the
levels of
ambition
and
enrolment
targets)
Device access plans (on and
off campus, explanation of
how students will access
devices and estimated
numbers of devices to reach
targeted ratios)
Continuing
education
(Paying)
students
should
bring their
own
devices to
class
Government can use PPP or
work with regional
education bureaus to build
internet cafes and tutorial
centers for increased student
access
All
Public
TVETs
and
CTEs
ICT departments
have computer
laboratories with
about 20
computers.
• For IT
related
departments
1:50 ratio,
• For non-IT
departments,
almost none
• Few • 1:10 on
average for
IT
department
• None for
non-IT
departments
All regular
(non-
paying)
students in
public
TVETs
have access
to digital
devices
On Campus: TVET and
CTE students can be
provided with laptops or
Tablets. Off Campus: Ethio
telecom can get involved in
providing free access to
EthERNet server as it has
for the National digital
library
http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et.
Faculty will also develop
course content for online as
well as offline access when
the LMS is in place so that
students can download the
content on-campus and use
it offline later Government
can use PPP (public private
partnership) or partner with
regional education bureaus
to build internet cafes and
tutorial centers for increased
students’ access
All
private
HEIs,
CTEs
and
TVETs
Students have
access to
computer labs
for those in ICT
related
departments
• Most: Over
75% of
Graduate
students in
Private
institutions
often have
laptops
1:2
1:2
1:100
90%
Because if
most
academic
materials
are
available
online,
private
On-Campus: All private
institutions shall be forced
to have enough connectivity
to access digital content
Off Campus: Ethio telecom
can get involved in
providing free access to
LMS server as it has for the
National digital library
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
51
Access to
devices on
campus
Access to devices
off campus
Student to
device ratios at
targeted
institutions
Targeted
ratios with
this
strategy
(given the
levels of
ambition
and
enrolment
targets)
Device access plans (on and
off campus, explanation of
how students will access
devices and estimated
numbers of devices to reach
targeted ratios)
• For IT
related
departments
1:10 ratio
• For non-IT
departments,
almost none
• Some: over
50% of
undergraduate
students have
access to
laptops.
• Few students
in private
TVETs and
CTEs have
access to
computers or
Tablets
institutions
will push
their
students to
have digital
devices to
access the
LMS
All Private
HE and
TVET
students
will have
1:10 access
by 2025
http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et.
Faculty will develop course
content for online as well as
offline access when the
LMS is in place so that
students can download the
content on-campus and use
it offline later
Students can use the off-
campus internet cafes built
through PPP and partnership
with regional education
bureaus with subsidized
payment scheme
Strategy to Build Learning Centers
Learning centers are an important part of this strategy to offer students with the necessary access
to the LMS and time for exercise. Some public HEIs often have computer labs in their departments
and open access in their libraries as well as dormitories. However, this may not be the case for
most CTE and TVET institutes and the new 3rd and 4th generation universities. Government can
build learning centers by using different approaches as shown in the table below.
Table 27: Strategy to build learning centers
Internet
access on
campus
(scale)18
Internet
access off
campus
Strategy to build learning centers. (number of learning centers
to build, number of students served by each learning center,
locations of learning centers, rationale)
Public HEIs Most Few • Build learning centers/computer labs within each college for
students’ access.
• Equip Libraries with computers and open 24 hours so that
students can have access anytime and live-in students can
have 24/7 access
18 All (90-100%), Most (70%-89%), Some (40%-69%), Few (10%-39%),
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 52
• Computer laboratories built within dormitory buildings can be
used to increase access to computers
• Off-campus internet cafes and tutorial centers can be built in
all the regions via PPP or in collaboration with regional
Education Bureaus
Public
TVETs and
CTEs
Few Few • Build learning centers/computer labs within each TVET and
CTE for student access.
• Equip Libraries with computers and open each for 24/7 so that
students can have access anytime
• Off-campus internet cafes and tutorial centers can be built in
all the regions via PPP or in collaboration with regional
Education Bureaus
The following table shows the strategies for selecting and offering courses.
Table 28: Strategy for course selection and prioritization
Strategy to expand and
improve the use of
technology for teaching
and learning
Courses prioritized to meet
the goal of expanding and
improving online courses
Why these courses?
Institutions to
provide these
courses
Strategy 1: Modify
existing introductory
courses to teach
beginners/fundamental
digital skills
• Fundamentals of ICT and
• Emerging Technologies
These courses already exist
in the curriculum of HE
and TVET institutions and
require less effort to
modify them to fit the
purpose
Public HE and
TVET institutions
Strategy 2: Select
courses that are given
across academic units in
HE and TVET
institutions to be offered
in blended form using
technology
• Word Processing,
• Basic English Skills,
• Report Writing and
Communication Skills, and
• Citation and Referencing
Skills
• Any other course useful for
teaching courses in blended
form
These courses are common
to most academic units
across multiple HE and
TVET institutions
Public HE and
TVET institutions
Selection of Digital Tools, Development of Faculty, and Establishment of Minimum
Standards and Guidelines
Digital tools that will be offered online to faculty need to be selected and prioritized. Once faculty
is skilled with the selected digital tools, they can start using the same digital tools to enhance their
teaching.
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 53
Table 29: Digital tools and faculty development
Tool Type Tools planned to be used in service of
expanding and improving the use of
technology for teaching and learning
at selected universities
Current Faculty
Usage
Current Student
Usage
Learning Management
System
LMS None None
Content Delivery and
Presentation tools
MS-Power point Most teachers Some for
presentation
Assessment, Proctoring and
Quizzing tools
• e-mail, Telegram
• Google forms
• LMS
Most
None
None
Most
None
None
Content, Coaching and
Aggregator tools
None None
Research and Organization
tools
Project management tools Few None
Communications tools • Email,
• social media,
• portal
All
Most
Few
All
Most
Few
Mobile Applications • Email, SMS,
• Google Meet,
• All
• Few
• All
• Few
Other Digital Tools • Digital Library
• Staff evaluation system,
• ISMIS integrated student
management information system
• Few • Few
Faculty Development and Minimum Standards and Guidelines: Strategy to Develop
Faculty
Faculty need to develop their digital skills on the selected tools prior to the students since they
have to use their knowledge to enhance the delivery of their courses. To this end, a minimum
standard need to be set for faculty on their level of knowledge and use of digital skills for teaching
learning as well as research.
Table 30: Minimum standards for faculty digital skills development
Strategy to develop faculty in the use of these tools.
Approach, timeline, supports to utilize, numbers of
faculty needing training, measurable outcomes.
Minimum standards and guidelines for
expanding and improving online coursework
under this sub-strategy
• Provide blended (face-to-face supported by LMS)
education to faculty for intermediate digital skill
• Put in place policy and guidelines for faculty on the
regular use of learning tools by 2021/22
• Revise the HE and TVET institutions staff promotion
legislations to include use of technology as one criterion
by 2022/23
• Incentivize staffs using the tools for teaching learning
• The faculty trained in digital skills tools must
use their skills to teach their courses in blended
form
• Students who have taken beginners digital skill
course should take their courses via blended
methods
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 54
Strategy to develop faculty in the use of these tools.
Approach, timeline, supports to utilize, numbers of
faculty needing training, measurable outcomes.
Minimum standards and guidelines for
expanding and improving online coursework
under this sub-strategy
• Revise the academic staff evaluation forms to include
use of technology in teaching learning by 2021/22
Changes to Policies, Regulations and/or Rules to Achieve Strategy
The successful implementation of this strategy requires new policies and guidelines to enforce
some of the necessary activities. The policies necessary to implement the overall digital skills
country action plan are set out in strategy 1.
4.3.4. Implementation Timeline
The following table describes the timeline for activities as well as the indicators for this strategy.
The following are the timeline for the implementation of the activities.
Table 31: Implementation Timeline
Milestones Timeline Responsible Body Deliverables
Establish collaboration with
partners to deliver selected
courses
June
2021
MoSHE, EthERNet Partnership established
Develop digital skills courses to
be delivered online for instructors
July 2021 Partner institutions Courses online and instructors
ready to be enrolled
Launch online courses for HE and
TVET instructors
June
2022
MoSHE, HE and TVET,
EthERNet
10000 instructors from HE and
TVET trained
Develop online course for
students (for digital skills and the
selected courses)
Jan 2022 MoSHE Courses online and students
ready to be enrolled
Launch online course for students June
2021
MoSHE, HE, TVET 200,000 students certified with
intermediate level digital skills
and ready to take technology
supported courses
Increase blended (technology
supported) courses
Sep 2021 MoSHE, HE and TVET 10 courses selected by the
departments are online
Assemble ERP project team. June 2021 MoSHE, HE and TVET Team established
Create ERP implementation plan Oct 2021 MoSHE, HE, and TVET Plan developed
Carry out a comprehensive
assessment of the current business
processes and requirements in
Higher Education Institutions and
TVETs
April
2022
MoSHE, HE, and TVET Assessment report
Prepare the infrastructure/hardware
for deployment
June 2022 MoSHE, HE, and TVET Hardware purchased
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 55
Implement Enterprise Architecture
Project
Sept.
2022
MoSHE, HE, and TVET System implemented
Knowledge Transfer and
Technology Ownership included as
part of the project
Dec. 2022 MoSHE, HE, and TVET Awareness created
Implement Student Identification
(ID) - Biometric Registration of
Students for HE
April.
2022
MoSHE, HE, and TVET System implemented
Establish a Centre for Technology
Enhanced Learning (CTEL) in all
HEIs
June 2022 MoSHE and
HEIs
CTEL
Re-design existing space to create
more flexibility for teaching
learning
June 2022 MoSHE and
HEIs
Flexible learning classrooms
Upgrade the technological
functionality of existing facilities
June 2022 HEIs Technologically enhanced
facilities
Develop new building codes that
help technology enhanced learning
June 2022 MoSHE and
HEIs
Building code
Make sure all new buildings have
Internet and wireless networks,
electric and fiber optics outlets, and
learning furniture and technologies
integrated into their designs
June 2030 MoSHE and
HEIs
Tech supporting buildings
Establish smart classrooms to
facilitate blended and online
teaching and learning in HEIs
June 2023 MoSHE and
HEIs
Smart classrooms
Ensure that classrooms have
sufficient wireless capacity and
charging facilities maintained to
support online teaching learning
June 2023 MoSHE and
HEIs
Internet access and charging
facilities in classrooms
Create a fully wireless, “bring-
your-own-device”-ready campus
by 2025
June 2025 MoSHE and
HEIs
Wireless ready campuses
Implement a Standard learning
management system provided from
the local cloud across all HEIs to
support the blended and online
learning
June 2023 MoSHE and
HEIs
Cloud based LMS
Implement Virtual Reality (VR),
Augmented Reality (AR) and
virtual laboratories
June 2023 MoSHE and
HEIs
Anything reality
Implementation of anti-plagiarism
software
June 2023 MoSHE and
HEIs
Unified anti-plagiarism
Establish an assistive technologies
lab with state-of-the-art equipment
for special needs students and
faculty
June 2025 MoSHE
HEIs
Assistive tech Labs for special
needs
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 56
4.3.5. Key Performance Indicators
Key performance indicators (KPIs) are defined to measure the implementation against the defined
set of goals in each strategy. The table below presents the major KPIs and the timeline for their
implementation.
Table 32: Key Performance Indicators (KPI)
Strategy Indicators Baseline
Timeline in Academic Year
2021/
2022
2022/
2023
2023/
2024
2024/
2025
2025/
2026
2029/
2030
Expanding
and
improving
online course
work
No of students trained in
fundamental digital skills
(Fundamentals of ICT)
• Very few 25% 50% 75% 100% - -
No of faculty trained in
fundamental digital skills
(Fundamentals of ICT) in
rapid skilling program
• Very few 25% 50% 75% 100% - -
Expanding
and
improving
the use of
technology
for teaching
learning
No of faculty trained in the
selected digital skills
courses in rapid skilling
• Very few 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% -
Number of students
enrolled in courses
delivered in blended form • None 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% -
Provide support with special needs
technology - such as text-to-speech
and speech-to-text software, a
screen reader, note-taking
solutions, magnification products,
and iPads equipped with
educational apps etc.
June 2025 MoSHE and
HEIs
Tech to support special needs
Implement a research data
management and access system for
researchers based on the needs
assessment
June 2025 MoSHE and
HEIs
National Research data
management
Establish a nation-wide High-
Performance Computing
Infrastructure at national
levels/EthERNet.
June 2025 MoSHE and
HEIs
HPC infrastructure
Implement a unified and integrated
management information system
for all Higher Education and
training Institutions at EthERNet
June 2025 MoSHE and
HEIs
Single Unified management
information system
Strengthen national and
institutional digital libraries
facilities and strive to establish a
dynamic virtual library with virtual
discovery capabilities
June 2025 MoSHE and
HEIs
National and institutional digital
libraries facilities
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 57
Strategy Indicators Baseline
Timeline in Academic Year
2021/
2022
2022/
2023
2023/
2024
2024/
2025
2025/
2026
2029/
2030
Implement a
Unified
Automated
Management
Information
System
An enterprise architecture
developed • Very few 1 - - - - -
Implemented Unified
Automated Management
Information System (No. of
modules implemented)
• None 10 12 All - - -
No of higher education
institutions getting the
services • Very few 50% 100% - - - -
No of TVET institutions
getting the services • None 20% 50% - - - -
No of HE students
benefited from Biometric
ID • None 25% 50% 100% - - -
SLA and Issue Tracking
Developed • None 15% 30% 50% 100% - -
DW and BI Solution
Developed • None 15% 30% 50% 100% - -
No of functional units
getting the SLA, DW and
BI • None 5% 15% 30% 50% 100% -
Activities to
Develop ICT
Supported
Teaching-
Learning
Space
No of CTELs established • None 10% 25% 50% 75% 100% -
ToR for Tech supported
classes spaces prepared • None
100% - - - - -
No of HEIs with plan to
develop Tech supported
teaching learning space • None 50% 100% - - - -
No of HEIs with Tech
supported teaching learning
space • None 20% 50% 75% 100% - -
No of classrooms with Tech
support • None 20% 50% 75% 100% - -
Cloud based LMS
Implemented • None - 100% - - - -
Activities to
Implement
Assistive
Technologies
for Special
Needs
Number of HEIs
conducting Assistive
Technology research
• 5% 10% 25% 50% 100% - -
Number of Assistive tech
labs established • None 10% 25% 50% 100% - -
Number of software/tools
purchased • None 10% 25% 50% 100% - -
No of I-Pads with the
necessary tools distributed
to assist the disabled
• None 25% 50% 100% - - -
Activities to
Support
Research and
Anti-plagiarism software
provided • 5% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% -
No of labs established • 1% 10% 20% 50% 80% 100% -
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 58
Strategy Indicators Baseline
Timeline in Academic Year
2021/
2022
2022/
2023
2023/
2024
2024/
2025
2025/
2026
2029/
2030
Innovation
Using Digital
Technologies
No of software/tools
purchased • 5% 20% 40% 75% 100% - -
National research data
service at EthERNet • 30% 40% 60% 80% 100% - -
Coordinate and plan
utilization of HPC • 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% - -
No standardized Unified
management information
system
• 20% 30% 40% 60% 80% 100% -
Established Unified digital
library • 15% 40% 60% 80% 100% - -
Activities to
Implement
AI and OER
No of Established AI
offices • None 10% 20% 50% 100% - -
No of AI Labs established
in HEIs • None 10% 20% 50% 100% - -
No of Collaborating HEIs
and TVETs in sharing
resources
• 10% 20% 50% 100% - - -
No of Established OER
offices • None 10% 20% 50% 100% - -
No of OER collaborations
established • None 10% 20% 50% 100% - -
No of MOOC developed • None 10% 20% 50% 100% - -
Augmented and Virtual
Reality implemented • None 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% -
4.3.6. Budget Requirement
The estimated budget (in thousands of Ethiopian Birr) required to successfully implement this
strategy is shown in the tables below as capital and recurrent costs respectively for the coming 10
years.
The cost planning considers key facts and conditions such as the number of HE and TVET
institutions and the number of students in these institutions.
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 59
Capital Budget for Strategy 3: Sub-Strategy 3.1: Expanding and Improving Online Course Work
Capital Expenditure in thousands of Birrs
2021 - Year 1
2022 - Year 2
2023 - Year 3
2024 - Year 4
2025 - Year 5
2026 - Year 6
2027 - Year 7
2028 - Year 8
2029 - Year 9
2030 - Year 10
Total 10 Years
ICT Infrastructure
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Learning platforms and DLR
-
8,000
4,000
4,000
4,000
4,000
4,000
4,000
4,000
4,000
40,000
Professional Development
11,800
11,800
11,800
11,800
11,800
5,040
5,040
5,040
5,040
5,040
84,200
Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Total Cost
11,800
19,800
15,800
15,800
15,800
9,040
9,040
9,040
9,040
9,040
124,200
Recurrent Budget for Strategy 3: Sub-Strategy 3.1: Expanding and Improving Online Course Work
Operational Expenditure in thousands of Birrs
2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year 10
Total
10 years
ICT Infrastructure
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Learning platforms
and DLR
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Professional
Development
2,732
5,464
5,464
5,464
5,464
3,379
624
624
624
624
30,463
Monitoring,
Evaluation and
Learning
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Total Cost
2,732
5,464
5,464
5,464
5,464
3,379
624
624
624
624 30,463
Total Cost for Sub-Strategy 3.1: Expanding and Improving Online Course Work (Distance Learning and Brick and
Mortar Settings)
2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year 10
Total
10 years
Total cost 40,000 48,000 60,000 80,000 88,000 96,000 100,000 120,000 - - 632,000
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 60
Capital Budget for Strategy 3: Sub-Strategy 3.2: Expanding and Improving the Use of Technology for Teaching Learning
in Classrooms
Capital Expenditure in thousands of Birrs
2021 –
Year 1
2022 –
Year 2
2023 –
Year 3
2024 –
Year 4
2025 –
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 –
Year 7
2028 –
Year 8
2029 –
Year 9
2030 –
Year 10
Total
10 Years
ICT
Infrastructure
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Professional
Development
-
47,800
47,800
47,800
47,800
47,800
4,780
4,780
4,780
4,780
258,120
Total Cost
-
47,800
47,800
47,800
47,800
47,800
4,780
4,780
4,780
4,780
258,120
Recurrent Budget for Strategy 3: Sub-Strategy 3.2: Expanding and Improving the Use of Technology for Teaching
Learning in Classrooms
Operational Expenditure in thousands of Birrs
2021 –
Year 1
2022 –
Year 2
2023 –
Year 3
2024 –
Year 4
2025 –
Year 5
2026 –
Year 6
2027 –
Year 7
2028 –
Year 8
2029 –
Year 9
2030 –
Year 10
Total
10 years
ICT
Infrastructure
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Professional
Development
-
2,600
2,600
2,600
2,600
3,120
312
312
312
312
14,768
Total Cost
-
2,600
2,600
2,600
2,600
3,120
312
312
312
312
14,768
Total Cost for Sub-Strategy 3.2: Expanding and Improving the Use of Technology for Teaching Learning in Classrooms
2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year 10
Total
10 Years
Total cost 40,000 44,000 48,000 52,000 56,000 60,000 64,000 68,000 72,000 76,000
580,000
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 61
Capital Budget for strategy 3: Sub-Strategy 3.3: Implementing a Unified Automated Management Information System Capital Expenditure in thousands of Birrs
2021 –
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 –
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 –
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 –
Year 9
2030 –
Year 10
Total
10 years
Enterprise Architecture
Development 40,000 - - - - 40,000
40,000 40,000 40,000 40,000 240,000
Unified MIS applications 200,000
400,000
400,000 200,000
400,000 40,000
40,000 40,000 40,000 40,000 1,800,000
ICT Infrastructure -
200,000
120,000 - - 40,000
40,000 40,000 40,000 40,000 520,000
Biometric SID and
Registration 80,000
100,000 80,000 200,000 20,000 40,000
40,000 40,000 40,000 40,000 680,000
Knowledge Transfer and
Technology Ownership - 8,000 16,000 8,000 8,000 40,000
40,000 40,000 40,000 40,000 240,000
Total Cost 320,000
708,000
616,000 408,000
428,000 200,000
200,000
200,000 200,000 200,000 3,480,000
Recurrent Budget for strategy 3: Sub-Strategy 3.3: Implementing a Unified Automated Management Information System Recurrent Expenditure in thousands of Birrs
2021 –
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 –
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 –
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 –
Year 9
2030 –
Year 10
Total
10 years
Human Resources 6,000 4,500 4,500 4,500 4,500 40,000
40,000 40,000 40,000 40,000 224,000
Monitoring, Evaluation
and Learning 6,000 4,020 4,020 4,020 4,020 40,000
40,000 40,000 40,000 40,000 222,080
Consultancy for Develop an
enterprise architecture 12,000 11,000 11,000 12,500 12,500 40,000
40,000 40,000 40,000 40,000 259,000
Professional and Capacity
Development 4,000 7,000 7,000 4,500 4,500 40,000
40,000 40,000 40,000 40,000 227,000
Total Cost 28,000 26,520 26,520 25,520 25,520 160,000
160,000
160,000 160,000 160,000 932,080
Total Cost for Sub-Strategy 3.3: Implementing a Unified Automated Management Information System
2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year 10
Total
10 Years
Total cost 348,000 734,520 642,520 433,520 453,520 360,000 360,000 360,000 360,000 360,000 4,412,080
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 62
Capital Budget for Strategy 3: Sub-Strategy 3.4: Developing ICT Supported Teaching-Learning Space
Capital Expenditure in thousands of Birrs
2021
–
Year
1
2022 –
Year 2
2023 –
Year 3
2024 –
Year 4
2025 –
Year 5
2026 –
Year 6
2027
–
Year
7
2028
–
Year
8
2029
–
Year
9
2030
–
Year
10
Total
10 years
Establish CTEL 0 140,000 140,000 140,000 140,000 140,000 0 0 0 0 700,000
Smart classrooms for HEIs 0 0 50,000 50,000 0 0 0 0 0 0 100,000
Enhance existing classrooms 0 0 50,000 50,000 0 0 0 0 0 0 100,000
Establishing support office 0 70,000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 70,000
Implement cloud based LMS 0 10,000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10,000
Implementation of anti-plagiarism tool 0 70,000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 70,000
Total Cost - 290,000 240,000 240,000 140,000.00 140,000 - - - - 1,050,000
Recurrent Budget for Strategy 3: Sub-Strategy 3.4: Developing ICT Supported Teaching-Learning Space
Recurrent Expenditure in thousands of Birrs
2021 –
Year 1
2022 –
Year 2
2023 –
Year 3
2024 –
Year 4
2025 –
Year 5
2026 –
Year 6
2027 –
Year 7
2028 –
Year 8
2029
Year
9
2030 –
Year
10
Total
10 years
Establish CTEL 10,000 10 ,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 70,000
Smart classrooms for HEIs 10,000 10,000
Total Cost 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000.00 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 - - 110,000
Total Cost for Sub-Strategy 3.4: Developing ICT Supported Teaching-Learning Space
2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year 10
Total
10 Years
Total cost 10,000 300,000 305.000 250,000 150,000 150,000 10,000 10,000 0 0 1,215,000
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 63
Capital Budget for Strategy 3: Sub-Strategy 3.5: Implement Assistive Technologies to Meet the Needs of the People with
Special Needs
Capital Expenditure in thousands of Birrs
2021 –
Year 1
2022 –
Year 2
2023 –
Year 3
2024 –
Year 4
2025 –
Year 5
2026 –
Year 6
2027
–
Year
7
2028
–
Year
8
2029
–
Year
9
2030 –
Year 10
Total
10 years
Assistive technology lab 0 70,000 70,000 70,000 70,000 70,000 0 0 0 0 350,000
Software and tools for
special needs & disability 0 20 ,000 20 ,000 10 ,000 10 ,000 10 ,000 0 0 0 0 70 ,000
I-pads with software 0 10,000 10,000 10,000 0 0 0 0 0 0 30,000
Total Cost 0 100,000 100,000 90,000 80,000 80,000 0 0 0 0 450,000
Recurrent Budget for Strategy 3: Sub-Strategy 3.5: Implement Assistive Technologies to Meet the Needs of the People
with Special Needs
Recurrent Expenditure in thousands of Birrs
2021 –
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 –
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 –
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 –
Year 9
2030 –
Year 10
Total
10 years
Assistive technology lab 0 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 9,000
Software and tools for
special needs 0 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 4,500
I-pads with software 0 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 9,000
Total Cost 0 2,500 2,500 2,500 2,500 2,500 2,500 2,500 2,500 2,500 22,500
Total Cost for Sub-Strategy 3.5: Implement Assistive Technologies to Meet the Needs of the People with Special Needs
2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year 10
Total
10 Years
Total cost 0 102,500 102,500 92,500 82,500 82,500 2,500 2,500 2,500 2,500 472,500
Capital Budget for Strategy 3: Sub-Strategy 3.6: Support Research and Innovation Using Digital Technologies
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 64
Capital Expenditure in thousands of Birrs
2021 –
Year 1
2022 –
Year 2
2023 –
Year 3
2024 –
Year 4
202
5 –
Yea
r 5
202
6 –
Yea
r 6
202
7 –
Yea
r 7
202
8 –
Yea
r 8
202
9 –
Yea
r 9
203
0 –
Yea
r 10
Total
10 years
Integrated national and institutional digital libraries
facilities 0 30,000 30,000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 60,000
National research data service at EthERNet 0 40,000 30,000 30,000 0 0 0 0 0 0 100,000
National HPC at EthERNet 0 400,00
0
400,00
0
400,00
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1,200,00
0
Single Unified management information system at
EthERNet 0
100,00
0
100,00
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 200,000
Total Cost 0
570,00
0
560,00
0
430,00
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1,560,00
0
Recurrent Budget for Strategy 3: Sub-Strategy 3.6: Support Research and Innovation Using Digital Technologies
Recurrent Expenditure in thousands of Birrs
2021 –
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 –
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 –
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 –
Year 9
2030 –
Year 10
Total
10 years
Integrated national and institutional digital
libraries facilities 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 0 0 0 0 0 10,000
Single Unified management information
system at EthERNet 1,500 1,500 1,000 1,000 1,000 0 0 0 0 0 6,000
Total Cost 3,500 3,500 3,000 3,000 3,000 0 0 0 0 0 16,000
Total Cost for Sub-Strategy 3.6: Support Research and Innovation Using Digital Technologies
2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year 10
Total
10 Years
Total cost 3,500 573,500 563,500 433,000 3,000 0 0 0 0 0 1,576,000
Capital Budget for Strategy 3: Sub-Strategy 3.7: Implement AI and OER
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 65
Capital Expenditure in thousands of Birrs
2021 –
Year 1
2022 –
Year 2
2023 –
Year 3
2024 –
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 –
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 –
Year 9
2030 –
Year 10
Total
10 years
Establish AI Lab 0 100,000 100,000 100,000 100,000 100,000 0 0 0 0 500,000
Implement (VR), (AR) & virtual
laboratories 0 0
55,000
.00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 55,000
Adopt OER in HE and TVET
institutions 0 100.00 87.00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 187
Implementation and use of OER 0 100.00 87.00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 187
Total Cost 0 100,200 155,174 100,000 100,000 100,000 0 0 0 0 555,374
Recurrent Budget for Strategy 3: Sub-Strategy 3.7: Implement AI and OER
Recurrent Expenditure in thousands of Birrs
2021 –
Year 1
2022 –
Year 2
2023 –
Year 3
2024 –
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 –
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 –
Year 9
2030 –
Year 10
Total
10 years
Establish AI Office 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 10,000
Establish AI Lab 0 100,000 100,000 100,000 100,00
0 100,000 0 0 0 0 500,000
Total Cost 1,000 101,000 101,000 101,000
101,00
0 101,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 510,000
Total Cost for Sub-Strategy 3.7: Implement AI and OER
2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year 10
Total
10 Years
Total cost 1,000 201,200 256,174 201,000 201,000 201,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,065,374
Total Budget for Strategy 3 – Enhance Use of Technology in Teaching Learning, Research, and Administration
Digital Skills Country Action Plan, Strategy 3 - Total Budget for the year 2021 to 2030 in thousands of Birrs Strategies / Sub-strategies
- DSCAP
Year 1
–
2021
Year 2
–
2022
Year 3 -
2023
Year 4 -
2024
Year 5
–
2025
Year 6
–
2026
Year 7
–
2027
Year 8
–
2028
Year 9 –
2029
Year 10
–
2030
Total
3.1. Expanding and
improving online 40,000 48,000 60,000 80,000 88,000 96,000 100,000 120,000 0 0 632,000
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 66
course work (distance
learning and brick and
mortar settings)
3.2. Expanding and
improving the use of
technology for
teaching and learning
in classrooms
40,000 44,000 48,000 52,000 56,000 60,000 64,000 68,000 72,000 76,000
580,000
3.3. Implementing a Unified
Automated
Management
Information System for
HEIs and TVETs
348,000 734,520 642,520 433,520 453,520 360,000 360,000 360,000 360,000 360,000 4,412,080
3.4 Developing ICT
Supported Teaching-
Learning Space
10,000 300,000 305.000 250,000 150,000 150,000 10,000 10,000 0 0 1,215,000
3.5. Implement Assistive
Technologies to Meet
the Needs of the People
with Speech, Dexterity,
Vision, Hearing and
Cognitive Difficulties
0 102,500 102,500 92,500 82,500 82,500 2,500 2,500 2,500 2,500 472,500
3.6. Support Research and
Innovation Using
Digital Technologies
3,500 573,500 563,500 433,000 3,000 0 0 0 0 0 1,576,000
3.7 Implement Artificial
Intelligence (AI) and
Open Educational
Resources (OER)
1,000 201,200 256,174 201,000 201,000 201,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,065,374
Total for Strategy 3 428,000 826,520 750,520 565,520 597,520 516,000 524,000 548,000 432,000 436,000 5,624,080
4.4. Strategy 4 - Connect HE and TVET institutions to Affordable High-
Speed Broadband and Improving Campus Network Digital
Services
The digital transformation strategy for Africa (2020-2030) builds among others on the existing
initiatives and frameworks such as the Policy and Regulatory Initiative for Digital Africa (PRIDA),
and the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA. The vision of digital
transformation in Africa is to create an integrated and inclusive Digital Society and Economy in
Africa that improves the quality of life of Africa’s citizens. The overall objective accordingly
states: to harness digital technologies and innovation to transform Africa’s societies and economies
to promote Africa’s integration, generate inclusive economic growth, stimulate job creation, erase
the digital divide, and eradicate poverty to secure the benefits of digital revolution for socio-
economic development. The Ethiopian scenario follows the same suit.
The Digital Ethiopia, 2025, asserts that the requirement for balancing the benefits and costs of new
digital technologies is to ensure that policies towards digital transformation are aligned with the
country’s national development vision, policy objectives and priorities. In Ethiopia, this would
mean aligning the digital transformation strategy with the country’s development plan, particularly
the new ten-year plan such as the sectorial priorities, for instance Education. It would also mean
aligning digital transformation with the country’s desire to create “decent” and productive jobs,
promote inclusive growth and harness the competitive advantages that new digital technologies
offer.
As part of the new ten-year national development plan of the country, the Ministry of Science and
Higher Education (MoSHE) of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia initiated a project to
develop a National Digital Skills and Infrastructure Strategy and Action Plan for Ethiopian HEIs
and Technical and Vocational Education and Training TVET (2020-2030). Only public HEIs are
considered in this document. About 88 public HEIs are identified of which 50 are universities and
38 are Colleges of Teachers Training (CTE). The number of public TVETs is 674. The envisaged
strategy and action plan will be employed by all HE and TVET institutions throughout Ethiopia in
the coming 10 years. Accordingly, MoSHE organized teams of experts drawn from various
stakeholders to engage in five strategy teams of which one is strategy 4 that aims at strengthening
or establishing National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) – Ethiopian Education and
Research Network (EthERNet) in the Ethiopian case and Modernization of Campus Networks and
IT preparedness at the campus level. This strategy has two components. These include: Sub-
Strategy 4.1: Strengthen EthERNet and Sub-Strategy 4.2: Modernization of Campus Networks
and Digital Services (CaNDiS). See section 3 for more information.
This is to provide effective broadband access all the way to faculty and students as well as
supporting administrative personnel in higher education and TVET institutions and develop
capacity to manage the campus infrastructure and digital services to put the digital infrastructure
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 68
in real academic use. A national compendium of campus network modernization plan is prepared.
For the purpose, the higher education and TVET institutions were categorized based on number of
students and faculty Universities by generation and number of campuses are also used as criteria
to perform the categorization. What is more the newly crafted categorization scheme proposed by
MoSHE is considered. For instance, the proposed categorization that classifies universities in to
four (research, applied, general and specialized). Accordingly, the research oriented are of first
generation and with high number of students (>=35,000) and academic population and the new
generations are of general universities and with a smaller number of students. But those
categorized as applied and those general universities with medium size of student population (more
than 15, 000) are somehow mixed. Taking into consideration the pattern observed on the basis of
the criteria indicated, two scenarios or options emerged for classifying the universities. The
scenarios more and more consider the number of students, faculty, and number of campuses.
Scenario 1 has four classes: (Research oriented and Large Universities with student population
>=35, 000, Large universities with student population between 20,000 and 35,000, Medium ones
with student population between 10,000 and 20,000, and Small universities with student
population < 10,000). Scenario 2 has three classes: (Research oriented and Large Universities
with student population >=35,000, Large and medium universities, which are both applied, general
and specialized with student population between 10,000 and 35,000, and Small ones with student
population < 10,000). As considerable number of College of Teachers Education (CTE) on average
has nearly 5,000 students, they are considered as small universities. Note that the CTEs are
considered as universities in this work. Scenario 2 is selected as appropriate to determine the
goals, strategize the required elements for the coming ten years, and the action plans and
activities associated with the plans.
As for the TVET institutions, the criteria set for categorization are of natural one and artificial.
The natural division (Scenario 1) is based on the categorization scheme already in use by MoSHE
and TVET Agency, which is by level of education. They are of four categories: Federal level
TVET institutes that teach both Bachelor and Masters students, TVET Poly-technique Schools
named as Level Five that offer Bachelor equivalent education, TVET Colleges named as Level III
& IV that provide diploma and advanced diploma, TVET institutes labeled as Level I & II that
provide certificates. The neutral categorization (Scenario 2) considers the level and the number
of students. The federal TVET institutes (FTI) and those TVETs with more than 5,000 of student
population are in the first class, in the second class are all Poly-technique schools and in the third
class will be all level I – IV TVETs. It should be noted that FTI is established by Council of
Ministers Regulation number 245/2011 similar to any government higher institute (university)
under MoSHE. What is more, according to the newly crafted categorization scheme of universities
proposed by MoSHE, FTI is categorized under the specialized educational institutions group,
together with ASTU and AASTU. Scenario 2 is selected as appropriate to determine the goals,
strategize the required elements for the coming ten years, and the action plans and activities
associated with the plans.
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 69
Based on the baseline data collected and analyzed, the strategies and the associated goals identified
and measured using indicators are presented in this document. The activities required to meet the
goals are listed. The HR structure for both the EthERNet and Campus (Institution) levels is
presented. The implementation timeline is specified as well as the cost sheets for addressing the
strategies are depicted.
Furthermore, the policies to be crafted that have strong relevance to strategy 4 (connect HE and
TVET institutions to affordable high-speed broadband and improve campus network and digital
services) include: 1. create a fully wireless, “bring-your-own-device”-ready campus, BYOD
policy, 2. develop EthERNet policy for a business plan for EthERNet for it to become a fully
functional National Research and Education Network, 3. develop a policy for an Enterprise
Architecture for Higher Education and TVET Institutions, 4. develop interoperability framework
policy, 5. Develop security policy, 6. develop HPC use and management policy.
The focus of The Digital Skills Country Action Plan (DSCAP) is on developing digital skills
proficiency at the intermediate and advanced levels and beyond for students and academics in
higher education and TVET institutions. The DSCAP shows the goals up to 2030 with measurable
targets and lay out strategies, activities, costs, and a detailed implementation plan covering the
period 2020-25 to achieve these goals and targets. The five strategies are interdependent to each
other. For instance, strategy 4 requires among others the knowhow of the institutions in terms of
their profile related to number of the academic community, the layout of the campuses, the current
infrastructure and its management including the future plans, as well as the propositions by all the
rest of strategies and specifically the outputs of Strategy 2 and Strategy 3. The contribution of
strategy 4 will be by availing the necessary infrastructure, platforms, and operations to run on-line
learning systems and make them efficient and effective through the management of the
technologies eventually enabling to facilitate developing digital skills proficiency at the
intermediate and advanced levels and beyond for both the learners and educators in HE and TVET
institutions. The table below presents the relationship among the strategies.
4.4.1. Baseline Status
The table below shows the status of the current connections both at HEIs and TVETs and national
levels based on the collected data so far.
Table 33: Status of Current Connections at HEIs and TVETs
Current Status Update
1
Number of institutions that are
connected currently to NREN
(EthERNet)
36 universities are connected to the EthERNet with 10Gbps.
Internet is leased not fiberized et.
The rest of the universities have poor infrastructure.
2 Geographical coverage of EthERNet 4841 Km of fiber is used. As all TVET institutions are not
connected, more fiber connections are required. This applies for
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 70
Current Status Update
some of the universities such as the College of Teachers Education
(CTE). See at the end of the table current fiber connections in the
country. It is assumed more cities and towns should be connected to
address the indicated connections for TVET and CTE.
3 State of manpower and skill of
EthERNet
Relatively good structure but not filled with several positions (See
sub-strategy 4.1)
4 Campus network in the HE and
TVET institutions
Most HEIs have campus networks and Internet Connections
Federal level TVET institutes and the TVET colleges such as those
in the capital have Internet connections
All other TVET colleges and institutes do not have connections even
within the campuses.
5 Percentage of campus area has Wi-Fi
coverage?
Quite a number of them have but not sufficient Universities have 5
to 10 Access points peer campus on average TVET Poly-technique
institutes have 2 on average There are none of them in most TVET
colleges
6 Status of network connectivity of
students and staff at home?
Almost none. All staff if connected to the Internet from home is at
their own cost.
7
How many students have access (i.e.,
broadband, laptop and devices, and
broadband coverage) to connect from
home?
Almost none.
8 How many universities have ERP? Almost none. There are student management systems at some
universities.
9
How many universities have access
to LMS platform (number of courses
online)?
With the prevalence of Covid-19, a few institutions are attempting.
Generally, none have exercised it.
10
How many students, teachers and
staff have university provided
campus identity?
Only a few of them.
11
Status of IT workforce in the
campuses (number, skill, and
training)?
There are structures for the HR, however, some positions are not
filled and lack of the required skills on the part of the existing
experts
12
All College of Teachers (CTE) are
considered for this work as
universities. None of them have
computing facilities including
networks and Internet connection.
Significant number of CTEs has no ICT Office.
Sub-strategies
Two sub strategies are identified. While the first is of national level, the second is at campus
(university) level. The strategies as mentioned in the introduction part of this strategy 4 are
presented as follows.
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 71
Sub-strategy 4.1: Strengthen EthERNet: The purpose of this activity is to ensure abundant and
reliable digital connectivity to higher education and TVET institutions in Ethiopia and includes
development of capacity to manage networks and data infrastructure including a management and
human resource plan. Upgrading of EthERNet is proposed as part of this sub-strategy.
Sub-strategy 4.2: Modernization of Campus Networks and Digital Services (CaNDiS): This is to
provide effective broadband access all the way to faculty and students as well as supporting
administrative personnel in higher education and TVET institutions and develop capacity to
manage the campus infrastructure and digital services to put the digital infrastructure in real
academic use.
Nationwide availability of high-speed and affordable Internet can provide many benefits for
Ethiopia. Learners and educators perform better if provided with technological equipment. The
scenario of developing economies is devastating since there are shortages available facilities for
learning. Not only urban spaces but remote area students with lack of infrastructure and appliances
need to communicate with their colleagues and teachers and access online educational content and
obtain current information related to their academic activities. The academic and research
community could contribute to the digital economy. In short, the country can generate digital
dividends growth, jobs and innovation from its digital infrastructure propelled by a digital strategy
and supported by digital components. Digital skills of the population are of paramount importance.
Countries like Ethiopia need a long way to go to attain the position of digitally enable economy
due to such factors as accessing to affordable connectivity to the Internet. Affordable bulk
bandwidth is then critical for the country to develop and capitalize on its digital skill. This requires
capable digital services such as ERP, LMS, and e-learning services running in the campuses,
backed by capable IT engineers, and strong campus network and a fiber-based EthERNet to
provide the national education bandwidth affordably. Therefore, attention is required to reach to
the level required. Two sub-strategies are proposed: 1. Strengthen the EthERNet infrastructure and
its management capacity and 2. Modernize Campus Networks and Digital Services (CaNDiS) and
the management of the same.
Enhancing the EthERNet requires upgrading the current fiber connectivity to a higher level as well
as adding more fiber connections to those yet to be connected HEI and TVET institutions.
Moreover, availing high-speed bandwidth is crucial to all institutions be it small or large depending
on the size of their needs. Such national level upgrade of bandwidth is critical to all institutions if
the desired goal of DSCAP is to be achieved. Placing national infrastructure like EthERNet and
availing the necessary bandwidth for HEIs and TVETs institutions is not enough. It should be
backed up with the necessary management to re-design, install, configure, administer, and monitor
to bring about the full potential of the implemented systems. For this purpose, it is important to
revisit the management structure and reform it in such a way that a positive difference/change can
be made.
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Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 72
What is more, EthERNet could contribute to the development of the digital economy if and only
if the campus networks are equally enhanced where available and established where the is no
infrastructure. Modernizing the campus digital infrastructure should be done to enable learners and
educators to easily access both the intranet and internet from anywhere (classrooms, labs,
dormitory, offices, etc.) without difficulty. Enabling the academic and research community to use
and innovate with the emerging technologies should as well be implemented to provide more
useful services. Like the EthERNet HR structure requires reform, the same has to be done for the
university/campus IT units that would entertain positions with hardware and software engineering
talent and the ability to administer systems and networks.
4.4.2. Goals of the Strategy
As mentioned in the section previously, the proposal for classifying the HE intuitions follows two
scenarios as shown below:
Scenario 1 has four classes: (Research oriented and Large Universities with student population
more than 35, 000, Large universities with student population between 20,000 and 35,000,
Medium ones with student population between 10,000 and 20,000, and Small universities with
student population less than 10,000).
Scenario 2 has three classes: (Research oriented and Large Universities with student population
more than 35,000, Large and medium universities, which are both applied, general and specialized
with student population between 10,000 and 35,000, and small ones with student population less
than 10,000).
Likewise, two scenarios are proposed for TVET institutions. Scenario 1 has four categories named
as Federal TVET, Level V TVET, level III-IV, and level 1 -II. Scenario 2 includes: 1. federal
TVETs and TVETs with more than 5,000 of student population are in the first class, 2. all Poly-
technique schools and 3. all level I – IV TVETs.
The following two tables depict the categories mentioned, student population, link capacity,
bandwidth and the number of experts required to manage, which are not considered for further
process.
Table 34: Category (Scenario 1) for HEIs (Not considered for further process)
Category (Scenario 1) Student Link Capacity Bandwidth 2025 IS/IT Skill
Research oriented and
Large Universities >=35,000 4x10 Gbps 2x10 Gbps ~200
Large universities 20,000 – 35,000 2X10 Gbps 1 X 10 Gbps ~150
Medium universities 10,000 – 20,000 10 Gbps 1 X 10 Gbps ~100
Small Universities <10,000 5x1 Gbps 5X 1 Gbps ~ 50
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 73
Table 35: Category (Scenario 2) for HEIs (Considered for further process)
Category (Scenario 2) Student Link Capacity Bandwidth 2025 IS/IT Skill
Research oriented and Large Universities >=35,000 4x10 Gbps 2x10 Gbps ~200
Medium and Large universities 10,000 – 35,000 2X10 Gbps 1 X 10 Gbps ~150
Small Universities <10,000 5x1 Gbps 5X 1 Gbps ~ 50
All the scenarios described above are depicted in the following 4 tables
Table 36: Category (Scenario 1) for TVETs (Not considered for further process)
Category (Scenario 2) Student Link
Capacity
Bandwidth
2025
IS/IT
Skill
Federal Level TVET Institutions Any number of students 3x1 Gbps 3x1 Gbps ~30
All Level V TVET Institutions Any number of students 2X1 Gbps 2X1 Gbps ~20
All Level III- V TVET Institutions Any number of students 1 Gbps 1 Gbps ~ 10
All Level I – II TVET Institutions Any number of students 1 Gbps 1 Gbps ~ 5
Table 37: Category (Scenario 2) for TVETs (Considered for further process)
Category (Scenario 2) Student Link
Capacity
Bandwidth
2023/2025
IS/IT
Skill
Federal level TVET Institutes & Level V Poly
technique with student population >=5,000 (Large
TVETs)
>=5,000 3x1 Gbps 3x1 Gbps ~30
Medium TVETs (all Poly technique TVETs with Level
V)
2,500 –
5,000 2X1 Gbps 2X1 Gbps ~20
Small TVETs (Level I -IV TVETs) <2,500 1 Gbps 1 Gbps ~ 10
Table 38: Indicators & Goals for EthERNet
Indicator Table Baseline Levels of Ambitions (2021-2030)
Goals Indicator 2018-20 Critical
(Min)
Crucial
2025
Aspiration
2030
INCREASE
REACH
1 Number of EthERNet
connected HEIs 52/88 (37%) 57% 80% 100%
2 Number of EthERNet
connected TVETs 0% 14% 50% 75%
3 Number of EthERNet
connected students small 40% 80% 100%
4 Number of EthERNet
connected faculty small 50% 80% 100%
STRENGHTEN
THE NETWORK
5 Total bandwidth
subscription (Gbps) ~20Gbps 60 Gbps 100 Gbps 120Gbps
6 Core Network Speed 10Gbps 50 Gbps 20 Gbps 40 Gbps
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 74
Indicator Table Baseline Levels of Ambitions (2021-2030)
Goals Indicator 2018-20 Critical
(Min)
Crucial
2025
Aspiration
2030
7 Network's Country Geo
Coverage 4841Km fiber 8,000 Km 20,000Km 40,000Km
HR CAPACITY 9 Training of staff (hours) ~10
hours/year
80
hours/year
100
hours/year
100
hours/year
INTEARNATIONAL
LINK
PROVISIONING
10
EthERNet becomes
educational ISP by
2021/2022 0 50Gbps 100Gbps 120Gbps
Note that connecting HEIs will be in order from Research oriented and Large Universities to Medium and Small ones. As for
TVETs, the order of priority will be from Federal TVETs to Level V, IV, III, II and I. Furthermore, both upgrade and new fiber
connections will be done parallel.
Table 39: Indicators & Goals for CaNDiS
Indicator Baseline Levels of Ambitions (2021-2030)
Goals Indicator 2018-20 Critical
(Min) Crucial 2025
Aspiration
2030
CAPABLE
CAMPUS
NETWORK
1 Number of campuses fiber
upgraded. 7% 30% 50% 80%
2 Number of buildings with
Gbps/connectivity ~7% 30% 50% 80%
3 % of academic areas Wi-Fi
covered ~30 60% 90% 100%
4 Bandwidth per pupil (mbps/p) 0.2 mbps/p .5 mbps/p 1 mbps/p
LAUNCH
DIGITAL
SERVICES
5 Courses on LMS 0 25% 50% 100%
6 Students with universal LMS
access 0 70% 90% 100%
7 Students with Campus
Identity ~5% 30% 80% 100%
8 Campuses on ERP 0 % 50% 75%
ENHANCE
CAPACITY
9 Training of EthERNet + IT
staff (hours) ~10 hours/year
40
hours/year 80 hours/year
100
hours/year
10 Campus IT Team (FTE /1000
students) 0.5 2 3 4
4.4.3. Activities
The following activities need to be performed to successfully achieve the goals set out for this
strategy
Sub-Strategy 4.1 - Activities
The activities for sub-strategy 4.1 are listed in the table below.
Table 40: EthERNet (NREN) Enhancement and HR
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 75
Goals Identified Activities
(G1) ENSURE
COMPREHENSIVE
NATIONAL
COVERAGE
G1:A1 Review in detail the EthERNet data center and infrastructure, and data centers of HEI
and TVET institutions to expand the network to connect all public HEIs and TVETs as
well as to include public Teachers' Training Colleges and private HEIs and TVETs.
G1:A2 Identify the enhanced network and network related services portfolio.
G1:A3 Identify the new and enhanced application related services (ERP, LMS, digital library,
tools) those will be needed in next 5 years.
G1:A4 Identify unified security requirements and propose security tools for EthERNet data
center and the connecting nodes to HRIs and TVETs
G1:A5 Re-design in detail EthERNet data center and the core networks
G1:A6 Prepare complete specification, bid document, and enact the standard bidding process,
award, and purchase
G1:A7 Organize the EthERNet Enhancement Project (Generate concrete project plan together
with stakeholders)
(G2)
STRENGHTEN
THE NETWORK
G2:A1 Fiberize the network (Connecting new institutions to EthERNet and upgrade existing
ones)
G2:A2 Upgrade core network equipment
G2:A3 Add additional rings, spars, and POPs
G2:A4 Enhance the security and reliability of the network
(G3) BUILDUP
INSTITUTIONAL
CAPACITY
G3:A1 Refine the existing organogram and design new organogram
G3:A2 Prepare and organize training and professional development plan for EthERNet
management and staff
G3:A3 Conduct and monitor the training sessions
(G4)
INTERNATIONAL
LINK
PROVISIONING
G4:A1 Conduct a study for international link provisioning (requirements to establish the link,
high-level design, wavelength assignment)
G4:A2 Implement and Establish International Gateway for EthERNet (register as ISP Operator)
Sub-Strategy 4.2 - Activities
The following table presents the modernization of the campus networks.
Table 41: Modernization of Campus Networks and HR
Goals Goal No. Identified Activities
(G1) MODERNIZE
CAMPUS NETWORK
G1:A1 Set Campus IT Requirements Standard for Each Category of Campuses and
issues including minimum bandwidth, access, and privacy for TVETs and
newly introduced HEIs.
G1:A2 Review existing campus networks and establish IT service requirements
(enterprise and learning) for TVETs and newly introduced HEIs
G1:A3 Generate Campus Network and data center Re-designs and new Designs (one
for Each Category Campus in HEIs and TVETs))
G1:A4 Generate a complete and detailed network and data center equipment
specification. Bid document preparation and enact the standard bidding
process, award, and purchase
G1:A5 Organize the campus network and IT service (ERP and LMS) implementations
Project for HEIs and TVETs (Generate concrete project plan together with
stakeholders)
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 76
Goals Goal No. Identified Activities
G1:A6 Execute the implementation of campus networks and data centers for HEIs and
TVETs including evaluations
(G2) BUILDUP
DIGITAL SERVICES
G1:A1 Campus Automation including ERP procurement plan (one for each category
campuses) with requirements.
G2:A2 Plan for LMS hosting (one for each category campuses) with requirements
G2:A3 Setup Campus Identity Service
G2:A4 Plan and implement for providing universal access to each student.
G2:A5 Deploy IT Help Desk for comprehensive digital support
(G3) ENHANCE
CAMPUS IT
CAPACITY
G3:A1 Refine the existing generic organogram and design new generic organogram
for campuses in HEIs and TVETs.
G3:A2 Design nationally uniform Campus IT service code
G3:A3 Identify the details of the training contents and schedule for IT staff
G3:A4 Arrange Training for Campus IT Team.
4.4.4. Implementation Timeline
The timeline is presented in terms of number of weeks. Assuming the tasks are accomplished
linearly, the actual month and year of accomplishing these activities will be based on the approval
date of the strategy implementation.
Table 42: Implementation timeline for EthERNet Enhancement
Goal
No. Identified Activities
Timeline
(2021–2030)
Iterative
every 2 yrs.
Responsible Deliverable
G1:A1 Review in detail the EthERNet data
center and infrastructure, and data centers
of HEI and TVET institutions to expand
the network to connect all public HEIs
and TVETs as well as to include public
Teachers' Training Colleges and private
HEIs and TVETs.
Jan 2021 EthERNet director and
external experienced
experts
EthERNet data center
and infrastructure
review report
G1:A2 Identify the enhanced network and
network related services portfolio.
Jan 2021 EthERNet director and
external experienced
experts
Ethernet – Network
Service Portfolio
G1:A3 Identify the new and enhanced application
related services (ERP, LMS, digital
library, tools) those will be needed in next
5 years.
Feb 2021 EthERNet director and
external experienced
experts
EthERNet – Cloud
based application
services portfolio
G1:A4 Identify unified security requirements and
propose security tools for EthERNet data
center and the connecting nodes to HRIs
and TVETs
Mar 2021 EthERNet director and
external experienced
experts
EthERNet – Cloud
security services and
tools portfolio
G1:A5 Re-design in detail EthERNet data center
and the core networks
Apr 2021 EthERNet director and
external experienced
experts
Re-designed Ethernet
Data center and core
networks
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 77
Goal
No. Identified Activities
Timeline
(2021–2030)
Iterative
every 2 yrs.
Responsible Deliverable
G1:A6 Prepare complete specification, bid
document, and enact the standard bidding
process, award, and purchase
May - Jul
2021
EthERNet director and
external experienced
experts
Spec document
Bid document
Evaluation document
Contract agreement
G1:A7 Organize the EthERNet Enhancement
Project (Generate concrete project plan
together with stakeholders)
Aug 2021 EthERNet director and
external experienced
experts and the vendor
awarded
Project management
plan
G2:A1 Fiberize the network (Connecting new
institutions to EthERNet and upgrade
existing ones)
Sep – 2021-
Feb 2022
Ethernet experts
Ethio telecom experts
Vendor experts
Fiber network
G2:A2 Upgrade core network equipment
Mar 2022 Ethernet experts
Vendor experts
Core network installed
and configured
G2:A3
Add additional rings, spars, and POPs
Apr – May
2022
Ethernet experts
Ethio telecom experts
Vendor experts
Ring network
G2:A4 Enhance the security and reliability of the
network
Jun 2022 Ethernet experts
Vendor experts
Security enhanced
network
G3:A1 Refine the existing organogram and
design new organogram
Jan 2021
Parallel task
EthERNet director and
external experienced
experts
Organogram
G3:A2 Prepare and organize training and
professional development plan for
EthERNet management and staff
Jul 2022 EthERNet director and
external experienced
experts
Training schedule
G3:A3 Conduct and monitor the training sessions
Aug - Nov
2022
Ethernet experts Experts with enhanced
knowledge
G4:A1 Conduct a study for international link
provisioning (requirements to establish
the link, high-level design, wavelength
assignment)
Sep - Nov
2021
Parallel task
EthERNet director and
external experienced
experts and international
experts
international link
provisioning document
G4:A2 Implement and Establish International
Gateway for EthERNet (register as ISP
Operator)
Dec 2021 –
Feb 2022
EthERNet director and
external experienced
experts and international
experts
Implemented
international link
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 78
Table 43: Implementation timeline for Campus Network Modernization
Goals
Identified Activities
Timeline
(2021 – 2030)
Iterative every
2 years
Responsible Deliverable
G1:A1 Set Campus IT Requirements Standard
for Each Category of Campuses and
issues including minimum bandwidth,
access, and privacy for TVETs and newly
introduced HEIs.
Sep 2021 University/TVET ICT director &
Network engineers
Ethernet experts
IT Requirements
standard
G1:A2 Review existing campus networks and
establish IT service requirements
(enterprise and learning) for TVETs and
newly introduced HEIs
Oct 2021 University/TVET ICT director &
Network engineers
Ethernet experts
IT application
service
requirements
G1:A3 Generate Campus Network and data
center Re-designs and new Designs (one
for Each Category Campus in HEIs and
TVETs))
Nov 2021 –Apr
2022
University/TVET ICT director &
Network engineers
Ethernet experts
Redesigned
network
Designed
network
G1:A4 Generate a complete and detailed
network and data center equipment
specification. Bid document preparation
and enact the standard bidding process,
award, and purchase
May 2022 – Jul
2022
University/TVET ICT director &
Network engineers
Ethernet experts
Spec document
Bid document
Evaluation
document
Contract
agreement
G1:A5 Organize the campus network and IT
service (ERP and LMS) implementations
Project for HEIs and TVETs (Generate
concrete project plan together with
stakeholders)
Aug 2022 University/TVET ICT director &
Network engineers & Software
experts
Ethernet experts
Project
management plan
G1:A6 Execute the implementation of campus
networks and data centers for HEIs and
TVETs including evaluations
Sep 2022 – Aug
2023
University/TVET ICT director &
Network engineers & Software
experts
Ethernet experts
Campus data
center and
network
infrastructure
G2:A1 Campus Automation including ERP
procurement plan (one for each category
campuses) with requirements.
Sep 2023 – Sep
2025
University/TVET ICT director &
Network engineers & Software
experts
Ethernet experts
Implemented
ERP
G2:A2 Plan for LMS hosting (one for each
category campuses) with requirements
Sep 2023 – Sep
2024
University/TVET ICT director &
Network engineers & Software
experts
Ethernet experts
Implemented
LMS
G2:A3 Setup Campus Identity Service Oct 2023 Software and network engineers Directory service
G2:A4 Plan and implement for providing
universal access to each student.
Nov 2023 Software and network engineers
G2:A5 Deploy IT Help Desk for comprehensive
digital support
Dec 2023 ICT director
G3:A1 Refine the existing generic organogram
and design new generic organogram for
campuses in HEIs and TVETs.
Sep 2021 University/TVET ICT director &
Network engineers & Software
experts
Organogram
G3:A2 Design nationally uniform Campus IT
service code
Jan 2024 University/TVET ICT director &
Network engineers & Software
experts
IT service code
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 79
Goals
Identified Activities
Timeline
(2021 – 2030)
Iterative every
2 years
Responsible Deliverable
G3:A3 Identify the details of the training
contents and schedule for IT staff
Sep 2021 – Aug
2022
University/TVET ICT director &
Network engineers & Software
experts
Training
schedule
G3:A4 Arrange/conduct Training for Campus IT
Team.
Sep 2022 – Aug
2023
University/TVET ICT director &
Network engineers & Software
experts
Trained IT team
4.4.5. Key Performance Indicators
Table 44:Indicators & Goals for EthERNet
Indicator Table Baseline Levels of Ambitions (2021-2030)
Goals Indicator 2018-20 Critical
(Min)
Crucial
2025
Aspiration
2030
INCREASE
REACH
1 Number of EthERNet
connected HEIs 52/88 (37%) 57% 80% 100%
2 Number of EthERNet
connected TVETs 0% 14% 50% 75%
3 Number of EthERNet
connected students small 40% 80% 100%
4 Number of EthERNet
connected faculty small 50% 80% 100%
STRENGHTEN
THE NETWORK
5 Total bandwidth
subscription (Gbps) ~20Gbps 60 Gbps 100 Gbps 120Gbps
6 Core Network Speed 10Gbps 50 Gbps 20 Gbps 40 Gbps
7 Network's Country Geo
Coverage 4841Km fiber 8,000 Km 20,000Km 40,000Km
HR CAPACITY 9 Training of staff (hours) ~10
hours/year
80
hours/year
100
hours/year
100
hours/year
INTEARNATIONAL
LINK
PROVISIONING
10
EthERNet becomes
educational ISP by
2021/2022 0 50Gbps 100Gbps 120Gbps
Note that connecting HEIs will be in order from Research oriented and Large Universities to
Medium and Small ones. As for TVETs, the order of priority will be from Federal TVETs to Level
V, IV, III, II and I. Furthermore, both upgrade and new fiber connections will be done parallel.
Table 45: Indicators & Goals for CaNDiS
Indicator Baseline Levels of Ambitions (2021-2030)
Goals Indicator 2018-20 Critical
(Min) Crucial 2025
Aspiration
2030
CAPABLE
CAMPUS
NETWORK
1 Number of campuses fiber
upgraded. 7% 30% 50% 80%
2 Number of buildings with
Gbps/connectivity ~7% 30% 50% 80%
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 80
Indicator Baseline Levels of Ambitions (2021-2030)
Goals Indicator 2018-20 Critical
(Min) Crucial 2025
Aspiration
2030
3 % of academic areas Wi-Fi
covered ~30 60% 90% 100%
4 Bandwidth per pupil (mbps/p) 0.2 mbps/p .5 mbps/p 1 mbps/p
LAUNCH
DIGITAL
SERVICES
5 Courses on LMS 0 25% 50% 100%
6 Students with universal LMS
access 0 70% 90% 100%
7 Students with Campus
Identity ~5% 30% 80% 100%
8 Campuses on ERP 0 % 50% 75%
ENHANCE
CAPACITY
9 Training of EthERNet + IT
staff (hours) ~10 hours/year
40
hours/year 80 hours/year
100
hours/year
10 Campus IT Team (FTE /1000
students) 0.5 2 3 4
4.4.6. Budget Requirement
Using the WB EXCEL an attempt was done to compute the cost. The estimated budget required
to successfully implement this strategy is shown in the following tables (in thousands of Ethiopian
Birr) as capital and recurrent costs respectively for the coming 10 years.
Capital Cost for Sub Strategy 4.1 Strengthening/Establishing EthERNet (in thousands of Birr)
Cost Headings 2021 - Year 1
2022 - Year 2
2023 - Year 3
2024 - Year 4
2025 - Year 5
2026 - Year 6
2027 - Year 7
2028 - Year 8
2029 - Year 9
2030 - Year 10
Total - 10 Years (Birr)
ICT Infrastructure 184,232 300,000 0.00 0.00 640,232 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1,124,460
Professional Development
80,000 80,000 80,000 80,000 80,000 80,000 80,000 80,000 80,000 80,000 800,000
Total Cost 264,232 380,000 80,000 80,000 720,232 80,000 80,000 80,000 80,000 80,000 1,924,464
Operational cost for Sub strategy 4.1 Strengthening/Establishing EthERNet (in thousands of Birr)
Cost Headings 2021 -
Year 1
2022 -
Year 2
2023 -
Year 3
2024 -
Year 4
2025 -
Year 5
2026 -
Year 6
2027 -
Year 7
2028 -
Year 8
2029 -
Year 9
2030 -
Year 10
Total –
10 Years
ICT Infrastructure 0.00 0.00 2,572,640.
00 0.00 0.00
2,572,640.
00 0.00 0.00 0.00
2,572,640.
00
7,717,92
0.00
Monitoring, Evaluation
and Learning 1,000.00 1,000.00 2,400.00 0.00 5,600.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
10,000.0
0
Total Cost 1,000.00 1,000.00 2,575,040.
00 0.00 5,600.00
2,572,640.
00 0.00 0.00 0.00
2,572,640.
00
7,727,92
0.00
Total Budget for Sub-Strategy 4.1 (in thousands of Birr)
Description 2021 – Year 1
2022 – Year 2
2023 – Year 3
2024 – Year 4
2025 – Year 5
2026 – Year 6
2027 – Year 7
2028 – Year 8
2029 – Year 9
2030 – Year 10
Total – 10 Years
Total budget 265,232 381,000 2,655,040 80,000 725,832 2,652,640 80,000 80,000 80,000 2,652,640 9,652,384
Capital Cost for Sub strategy 4.2 Modernization of Campus Networks and IT preparedness at the campus level (in thousands
of Birr)
Cost Headings 2021 –
Year 1
2022 –
Year 2
2023 –
Year 3
2024 –
Year 4
2025 –
Year 5
2026 –
Year 6
2027 –
Year 7
2028 –
Year 8
2029 –
Year 9
2030 –
Year 10
Total –
10 Years
ICT Infrastructure 0.00 90,960 2,991,632 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 3,082,592
Learning platforms and DLR 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 8,176,000 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 8,176,000
Professional Development 960,000 1,760,000 1,760,000 1,760,000 1,760,000 1,760,000 1,760,000 1,760,000 1,760,000 1,760,000 16,800,000
Total Cost 960,000 1,850,960 4,751,632 1,760,000 9,936,000 1,760,000 1,760,000 1,760,000 1,760,000 1,760,000 28,058,592
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 82
Total cost for Sub strategy 4.2 Modernization of Campus Networks and IT preparedness at the campus level (in thousands of
Birr)
Description 2021 –
Year 1
2022 –
Year 2
2023 –
Year 3
2024 –
Year 4
2025 –
Year 5
2026 –
Year 6
2027 –
Year 7
2028 –
Year 8
2029 –
Year 9
2030 –
Year 10
Total –
10 Years
Total budget 1,945,600 2,906,960 18,064,512 2,752,000 10,992,000 15,072,880 2,816,000 2,816,000 2,816,000 15,072,880 75,254,832
Total capital cost for Strategy 4: Connect higher education and TVET institutions to affordable high-speed broadband (in
thousands of Birr)
Sub Strategies 2021 –
Year 1
2022 –
Year 2
2023 –
Year 3
2024 –
Year 4
2025 –
Year 5
2026 –
Year 6
2027 –
Year 7
2028 –
Year 8
2029 –
Year 9
2030 –
Year 10
Total –
10 Years
4.1 Strengthening/
Establishing NRENs 264,232 380,000 80,000 80,000 720,232 80,000 80,000 80,000 80,000 80,000 1,924,464
4.2 Modernization of Campus
Networks and IT
preparedness at the campus
level
960,000 1,850,960 4,751,632 1,760,000 9,936,000 1,760,000 1,760,000 1,760,000 1,760,000 1,760,000 28,058,592
Total Cost 1,224,232 2,230,960 4,831,632 1,840,000 10,656,232 1,840,000 1,840,000 1,840,000 1,840,000 1,840,000 29,983,056
Total Operational cost for Strategy 4: Connect higher education and TVET institutions to affordable high-speed broadband
(in thousands of Birr)
Sub Strategies 2021 –
Year 1
2022 –
Year 2
2023 –
Year 3
2024 –
Year 4
2025 –
Year 5
2026 –
Year 6
2027 –
Year 7
2028 –
Year 8
2029 –
Year 9
2030 –
Year 10
Total –
10 Years
4.1Strengthening/Establishing
NRENs 1,000 1,000 2,575,040 5,600 2,572,640 2,572,640 7,727,920
4.2 Modernization of Campus
Networks and IT
preparedness at the campus
level
985,600 1,056,000 13,312,880 992,000 1,056,000 13,312,880 1,056,000 1,056,000 1,056,000 13,312,880 47,196,240
Total Cost 986,600 1,057,000 15,887,920 992,000 1,061,600 15,885,520 1,056,000 1,056,000 1,056,000 15,885,520 54,924,160
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 83
Total cost for Strategy 4: Connect higher education and TVET institutions to affordable high-speed broadband (in thousands
of Birr)
Sub-strategies - DSCAP 2021 –
Year 1
2022 –
Year 2
2023 –
Year 3
2024 –
Year 4
2025 –
Year 5
2026 –
Year 6
2027 –
Year 7
2028 –
Year 8
2029 –
Year 9
2030 –
Year 10
Total –
10 Years
4.1 Strengthening/Establishing
NRENs 265,232 381,000 2,655,040 80,000 725,832 2,652,640 80,000 80,000 80,000 2,652,640 9,652,384
4.2 Modernization of Campus
Networks and IT
preparedness at the campus
level
1,945,600 2,906,960 18,064,512 2,752,000 10,992,000 15,072,880 2,816,000 2,816,000 2,816,000 15,072,880 75,254,832
Total for Strategy 4 2,210,832 3,287,960 20,719,552 2,832,000 11,717,832 17,725,520 2,896,000 2,896,000 2,896,000 17,725,520 84,907,216
4.5. Strategy 5 – Capacity Building and Process Reengineering
Capacity Requirement is about the human capability and resources involved in the design,
implementation, monitoring, and review of the higher education strategic plan on digital skills.
Humans in organization are vital for the success of organizational goals. Their contribution mainly
depends on their capacity and motivation to execute their responsibilities in the organization. Thus,
in support of the higher education strategic plan on digital skills (DSCAP), we need to ensure that
our Ministry and Regulatory Staff have the requisite capacity (skills and knowledge) to support
the initiatives. We also need our organizations to be both efficient and effective in supporting the
plan.
The plan focuses in building the capacity of two groups of people – Digital Leaders and Digital
Specialists. Digital leadership is the strategic use of an organization’s digital assets to achieve
organizational goals. This can be dealt with both organizationally and at an individual level.
Looking at it from an individual level, this is often carried out by those responsible for overseeing
the digital assets. effective digital leaders are aware of their business goal and known as how their
job responsibilities support it. Digital leaders explore how technology can be used to help their
business become much more responsive to the needs of their customers and the ever-changing
requirements. A successful digital leader understands the importance of inbound data and the
processes within the organization that supports it. They place high value on their communication,
creativity, and willingness to explore the ways that new emerging technology and digital
information can be used to help organizational success. In today’s world, digital leadership is an
obvious balancing act which requires a very unique set of skills to drive success for that leader,
organization, and overall workforce. Thus, leadership is an extremely important function of any
management, helping to maximize efficiency to achieve business goal.
Digital specialists are technical experts over specific domains. Digital specialists provide
leadership over specific domains in the digital plan based on their deep knowledge and experience
in the area. For example, in the strategy of capacity building, the technical experts would include
senior technologists who are able to identify the skills gaps of the team such as the need to develop
capacity in interpreting and using analytics from learning management systems, to inform policy
design and programme evaluation. They are the engine that power the digital transformation efforts
of the country. As such, investments in building the capacity of digital specialists will ensure the
sustaining and scaling up of the digital plan over time. Examples of domains for digital specialists
include:
• Digital Security – this relates to the maintenance of the confidentiality, integrity, and
protection of data as well as the systems across various environments.
• Enterprise Mobility Management – this relates to the use and access of mobile devices as
well as corporate apps and intranet services, at any place and at any time.
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 85
• Cloud Computing – this relates to the exploitation of cloud services for the storage,
retrieval, and processing of data and for the access to computing power from data centers
over the Internet
• Digital Applications – this relates to knowledge and skills in the operations of the specific
platforms, such as learning management systems, developed, and used in the organization.
• Big Data Analytics – this relates to the harnessing of big data collected from various
platforms such as learning management systems. Based on trends and patterns, projections
can be identified for planning.
Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) involves a review and refinement of existing work
processes so as to be more efficient and effective in delivering the business output and outcomes.
BPR is the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic
improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance such as cost, quality, service,
and speed. BPR focuses on processes where it works to redesign the strategic and value-added
process which transcends the organizational boundaries. It is a cross functional approach and
requires support from almost all the departments of the organization. Managerial support is prime
for the approach to be a success, which also involves a tactful and well-planned culture change
management program. It involves identifying the processes first and then doing a through and in-
depth As-In analysis. Once it is done, the processes can be identified for updating or review. Then
a To-Be analysis is done and designed so that the organization knows where is has to go and what
it has to achieve. Once the plan is in place, the reengineering process is implemented, and
continuous improvement is aimed at. Furthermore, changes to policies in the areas of capacity
building, working relationship between different administrative units, career structure, and other
related issues are addressed in strategy 1.
While there is recognition on the potential of ICTs as a tool for the promotion of gender equality
and support of people with special needs, still there is lower number of women accessing as well
as using ICT as compared with men and limited provision of assistive technologies for the needy.
Unless the gender divide and special needs issues are specifically addressed, there is a risk that
ICTs may aggravate existing inequalities. If, however, the gender and special needs dimensions of
ICT - in terms of access and use as well as capacity-building opportunities - are explicitly identified
and addressed, ICT can be a powerful catalyst. Hence, priority shall be given by the Higher
Education Institutions and TVETs to empower women and people with disability through ICTs.
Sub-strategies
Sub-strategy 5.1: Capacity Building for Ministry Staffs
Sub-strategy 5.1 deals with:
• Building Capacity Needs for Digital Plan
• Identifying Modalities for Capacity Building
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 86
Sub-strategy 5.2: Business Process Reengineering
Business Processes are typically organized in the following categories:
• Operational Processes
• Management Processes
• Support Processes
4.5.1. Baseline Status
A survey was sent out to ICT Directors of fifteen public universities in different parts of the
country and to the Director General of Ethiopian Education and Research Network (EthERNet)
in June 2020.
The purpose of the survey was to identify: (1) training needs for digital leaders and digital
specialists; and (2) weaknesses or challenges in relation to capacity building and business
processes in the ministry/agencies and HEIs. The outcomes from the surveys informed the
strategic objectives for capacity building and business process re-engineering for the coming
years. Appendix 5.2 and Appendix 5.3 provides a sample of the questions and responses from
the participants of the survey.
Based on desk review, two digital skill frameworks, the Digital Skills Framework for Digital
Leaders and Digital Skills Framework for Digital Specialists in HE and TVET institutions in
Ethiopia are developed for two key groups of people – the driver and engine of the digital
transformation efforts in the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MoSHE) of Ethiopia
and Ethiopian HE and TVET institutes.
The data collection and needs analysis from the survey and international scan of best practices
inform the development of the following objectives and plans for capacity building and business
process re-engineering sub-strategies.
• Current state
o Leaders with some digital leadership skills are estimated about 1%. These
leaders are mainly the ones who are leading the ICT offices in the ministry,
agencies, College of Teachers Education, and TVETs.
• desired state by 2025, and 2030
o 42,520 staffs (digital leaders, digital specialists, and support staffs) trained in
2025. On average, two short-term trainings are planned for a staff.
Accordingly, a staff may take couple of trainings at different times. The 100%
(42,520) trainings will be completed in 2025 and the remaining 5 years of the
plan period will be used for new staff and refreshment courses.
• The difference/progress that will be made with the plan
o Trained at Intermediate digital skills level (75%) =31,890
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 87
o Trained at Advanced digital skills level (10%) = 4,252
o Trained at Highly specialized digital skills level (5%) = 2,126
o Trained at Digital leadership (Management) level (10%) = 4,252
• Why and how the goal is realistic to the level of ambition
o Computation considers the organizational structure, job positions, and
description; the staff mobility; only one training is assumed for one employee
per year; the trainings will be both face-to-face in-house and outsourced, online
to be taken/audited by the trainees; financial resource can be pulled from
domestic and foreign sources to implement those trainings.
Challenges Identified in Capacity Building
Based on the feedback from the respondents of the survey as well as input from working group
members, the following challenges have been identified.
Capacity Building related Challenges:
• Inadequate e-readiness in universities/TVETs
• Use of online meeting tools and Learning Management Systems are not uniform among
HE/TVET institutes as well as EthERNet
• Lack of sufficient, motivated, committed human capacity in EthERNet and HE/TVET
institutes:
o Most senior managers are not aware of the strategic impact of ICT
o Technical capacity at Ministry/Agencies/HE/TVETs is limited
o Turnover of technical ICT staff is very high
o Managerial, technical, and administrative capacity in EthERNet is limited
o Limited ICT funding. There is limited funding for EthERNet investments and
operations. Most universities/TVETs have small ICT budgets
• Low level of digital skills among employees and leaders at ministry/agencies
Challenges and Issues in Business Process
Management processes (see Appendix 5.2)
• Duties and responsibilities of Ethiopian Education and Research Network (EthERNet)
and ICT offices in HE/TVET institutes needs revisiting.
• Lack of clarity in the governance structure of EthERNet (Ownership, membership, board,
standard working procedures, etc.)
• The relationship between EthERNet and HE/TVET institutes is not clearly defined (there
is lack of coordination). These institutes do not recognize the value of EthERNet.
• Most institutions lack a formal policy and organizational structure for ICT (Lack of
institutional ICT policy and framework)
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 88
• Lack of interconnectedness among policies
• The reporting relationship of ICT offices in HE/TVETs/Agencies is not uniform. The
ICT office reports to different entities in in different HE/Agencies/TVET institutes
• EthERNet/Agencies/HE/TVET institutes primarily depend on government budget. There
is lack of sustainable business model.
• Need of a governing body/board for EthERNet
• Need of an ICT Council to advise the university presidents and executive committee to
advise the ICT director in HE/TVETs
Operational processes
• EthERNet has to be the core service center for educational and research institutions in the
country. To do so, EthERNet’s standard working procedures/processes need to be
revisited
• Need for additional departments/processes at EthERNet
• Need for additional departments/processes at HE/TVET ICT offices
o Security department (Security Emergency response team, NOC support team)
o Training and consultancy department
o Administration department (for the day-to-day administration of human and
material resources (especially for bigger ICT offices)
o Technology innovation center
o IT audit unit
Support processes
• Procurement process for ICT equipment and services needs revisit (there is delay in
procurement process)
4.5.2. Goals of the Strategy
High-Level Goals of the Strategy to be achieved (2025 and 2030)
High-Level Goal by 2025 and 2030
The goal for Capacity Building (Sub-Strategy 5.1) is to train 42,520 staff in total during the 10
years plan period in four level of digital skills trainings. This is computed in such a way that
four leaders are considered from each of the 674 TVETs, 9 leaders from each of the 50 HEIs, 4
leaders from each of the 38 College of Teachers Education, 650 staff from Ministry
headquarters, and 300 from the agencies under the ministry. This accounts for 4,252 staff and
it is assumed that on average two relevant digital skills trainings will be given to a staff every
year for the first five years of the 10 years plan period mainly because the capacity building
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 89
shall be a prerequisite to the implementation of other strategies. The number share to the four
levels is estimated in percentage of employees based on their responsibility in the ministry,
agencies, HEIs, College of Teachers Educations, and TVETs. Accordingly:
• 31,890 (i.e., 75% of the total 42,520) of staff to receive Digital Skills training to have
intermediate-level digital skills by 2030
• 4,252 (i.e., 10% of the total 42,520) of staff to receive Digital Skills training to have
advanced-level digital skills by 2030
• 2,126 (i.e., 5% of the total 42,520) of staff to receive Digital Skills training to have
highly specialized-level digital skills by 2030
• 4,252 (i.e., 10% of the total 42,520) of staff to receive Digital Skills training to have
Digital leadership (Management)-level digital skills by 2030.
4.5.3. Activities
Sub-strategy 5.1 Activities
The technical and managerial human capacity situation in the EthERNet is inadequate. Similarly,
the ICT managerial and technical capacities in the agencies/universities/TVETs are far from
adequate. More importantly, both EthERNet and universities/TVETs do not have mechanisms to
attract and retain quality professional staff. Thus, EthERNet has to address such issues and
advocate their implementation in HE/TVET institutes.
The list of activities for this sub-strategy are:
a) Enhance digital skills leadership and management capacity at Ministry, HE and TVET
institutes
• Commission a coordinating committee to oversee the digital leadership training for
Ministries, HE and TVET institutes
• Develop a structured capacity building and training programme for digital leaders
• Develop resource mobilization capacity of staff
• Use consultants from stakeholders in short-term partnership basis
b) Improve capacity for digital skills related project planning, design, and management
• Update project management and administrative systems
• Provide refresher courses for project staff
• Ensuring that all procurement, technical installation contracts and administrative
systems are supported to deliver on their intended promise
c) Develop capacity of digital leaders about digital skills related policy design, development,
implementation, and evaluation
• Constitute a Task Force to develop policy guidelines
• Train members of the policy taskforce on key stages involved in developing policies
(Need identification, Policy Design, Implementation and Evaluation)
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 90
• Identify policy challenges confronting Digital skills development in
ministry/HE/TVET institutes
• Institute policy to ensure senior appointment holders attend digital leadership training
within 6 months of emplacement
d) Develop managerial capacity of digital specialists at Ministry, HE and TVET institutes
• Commission a coordinating committee to oversee the digital specialist training for
Ministries, HE and TVET institutes
• Develop a structured capacity building and training programme for digital specialists
• Mentor technical staff of HE/TVET/Agencies through and internship program
e) Recruit, develop and retain adequate and quality management and technical personnel in
EthERNet and HE/TVET/Agencies
• Constitute a taskforce to surface issues and challenges in recruitment and retention of
staff
• Recruit adequate number of staff for EthERNet and HE/TVET institutes
• Establish a staff development programme to be centrally coordinated
• Establish a strong and structured internship programme
• Develop best practice/ guidelines for ICT management and operations
Contribution of Capacity Building to the Goal: Major attention must be given to the development
of human resources and capacity at ministry level, HE and TVET institutes. Human resources
programmes, especially education, training, and development programmes must be consistent with
the current HE and TVET landscape. Well planned human resources development strategies create
a pool of experts that are key for improved service delivery and effective execution of
organizational responsibility. The ultimate aim of strategic capacity building initiative is to
secure/avail a workforce that has the skills and knowledge to undertake the tasks required, and that
is eager to learn new skills in order to be able to meet future challenges. The capacity building
Focus Areas are presented in the table below.
Table 46: Capacity building Focus Areas
Capacity Building Focus Area /
Activity
Responsible Indicators Timeline
Develop capacity of digital leaders EthERNet, HE, TVETs 2,126 digital leaders
trained
2021-2025
Develop capacity of digital Specialists EthERNet, HE, TVETs 40,394 digital specialists
trained
2021-2025
Modalities for Capacity Building: The following table presents potential modalities that can
be adopted for the capacity building initiatives:
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 91
Table 47: Modalities for Capacity Building
Activity Responsible Indicators Timeline
Outsourcing (consultants and
contractors)
EthERNet, HE, TVET 100 local and
international
consultants engaged
2021-2025
In-house capacity development
(strategic hiring, systematic process of
talent identification, development of
present staff)
EthERNet, HE 4,252 in-house
capacity dev.
Initiatives
2021-2025
Short-term on the job trainings EthERNet, HE, TVET 31,890 staff trained 2021-2025
Massively Open Online Courses
(MOOCs)
EthERNet, HE, TVET 4,252 of staff trained 2021-2025
Overseas Visits and Attachment EthERNet, HE, TVET 2,126 of visits secured 2021-2025
Mentoring and Developmental
Assignments
EthERNet 2,126 of staff
developed
2021-2025
Table 48: Digital Skills Framework for Digital Leaders in Ethiopian HEIs and TVETs
Competency
area
Leadership level Proficiency
level
Domains
of
knowledge
- Competency area
Digital
Leadership
(Management)
High-level
Managers
(Directors, Director
generals and above)
Fo
un
da
tio
na
l D
igit
al
skil
ls f
or
lea
der
s a
t a
ll l
evel
s
(Dev
ices
an
d s
oft
wa
re o
per
ati
on
, in
form
ati
on a
nd
da
ta l
iter
acy
,
com
mu
nic
ati
on
an
d c
oll
abo
rati
on
, d
igit
al
con
ten
t cr
eati
on,
safe
ty,
pro
ble
m s
olv
ing
, ca
reer
–re
late
d c
om
pet
ence
s)
Dig
ital
Lea
der
(D
L)
Lev
el 4
& 5
- IS and business Strategy
alignment
- Business plan development
- Architecture Design
- Technology Trend Monitoring
- Innovating
- Information Security Strategy
Development
- Needs identification
- Project and portfolio
Management
- Relationship Management
- Process improvement
- Purchasing
- Information and knowledge
management
- Business Change management
- ICT quality strategy
development
- IS Governance
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 92
Competency
area
Leadership level Proficiency
level
Domains
of
knowledge
- Competency area
Middle-level
Managers
(Department heads)
Dig
ital
Lea
der
(D
L)
Lev
el 2
& 3
- User support
- Change support
- Service delivery
- Problem management
- Application Development
- Systems Engineering
- ICT quality management
- Purchasing
- Risk Management
- Information Security
Management
- Education and training
provision
- Contract management
- Personnel development
Low-level
Managers (Unit
leaders, team
leaders)
Dig
ital
Lea
der
(DL
) L
evel
1
See appendix 5.1 for e-Competence: Title and generic description
Table 49: Digital Skills Framework for Digital Specialists in Ethiopian HEIs and TVETs
Competency
area Digital specialist level Proficiency level Domains of knowledge
Highly
Specialized
Lead professionals /
Senior Managers /
Principal
Digital Specialist
(DSp) Level 4 & 5 • Systems Engineering
• Application
Development
• Component
integration
• Architecture Design
• Needs identification
• Testing
• Solution Deployment
• Documentation
production
• Information security
management
Advanced Senior professionals /
Managers
Digital Specialist
(DSp) Level 2 & 3
Intermediate Associates/junior
professionals
Digital Specialist
(DSp) Level 1
Sub-Strategy 5.2 Activities
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 93
Every organization needs to have a strategy of how it operates in the ever-changing environment
so as to ensure it survives in the same environment. Thus, it is important to use business process
re-engineering as a tool to implement its strategy.
Business processes can be classified into 3 categories. They are Management Processes.
Operational Processes, and Support Processes. Management processes relate to the supervisory
function of the management and could include processes for the planning & deployment,
budgetary supervision, and the monitoring and evaluation of programme/ Operational processes
are central to the execution of the tasks of the organization. Examples of specific operational
processes could include the deployment of certain goods and services to the stakeholders. Support
processes enable the smooth implementation of operational processes. Examples of support
processes include corporate services, such as finance, human resource, administrative and
technical support.
EthERNet’s governance and management structures need to be improved to enhance its credibility
and image. Thus, establishing legal framework and management structure are key concerns.
Although the technical capacity of digital specialists is vital (as dealt in the capacity building plan
of strategy 4), the managerial capacity of digital specialists is also equally important and thus
addressed under strategy 5. Besides, EthERNet needs to be financially sustainable to achieve its
objectives and objectives of HE/TVET institutes. Funding has been a major issue since the
formation of EthERNet, but EthERNet has been fortunate to have valuable partners who have
made a tremendous input into its funding. As this source of funding might not always prevail,
EthERNet needs to plan for funding that ensures that it meets its objectives in a sustainable manner.
The list of activities for this sub-strategy are
a) Enhance management processes and administrative systems (i.e., Have effective
mechanisms for accountability of the stakeholders)
• Develop EthERNet governing board and establish its legal framework
• Review all EthERNet legal documents and standard working procedures
• Reform EthERNet’s governance structure to accommodate evolving education needs
• Develop a comprehensive EthERNet management structure with its appropriate
functions
• Develop appropriate job descriptions
• Constantly reviewing the management, procurement, and administrative systems to
be responsive to organizational needs
• Introduce a business development unit/function at EthERNet and in ICT offices of
HE/TVET institutes
b) Streamline operation processes and improve efficiency
• Establish a committee to oversee the coordination of increased productivity efforts
and review operation processes
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 94
• Review the performance management system to ensure that the compensation and
reward systems to productivity and value-add of the staff to the organization is
aligned.
• Develop recognition and award schemes to reward good performance and encourage
innovations
• Institute a mechanism to deal with bureaucratic inefficiency, corruption, and abuse of
power
• Set up channels to obtain regular feedback from stakeholders
c) Improve Support Process of Procurement
• Review procurement regulations to ensure that the procurement process and decision
to purchase is fair, open, and good value for money.
• Consider a faster and less stringent process for small value purchases by empowering
middle managers with greater authority.
• Set up periodic contracts with vendors to facilitate ease of procurement for
subsequent purchases.
d) Improve Support Process of Communication among stakeholders for effective
implementation of digital skills programme
• Train Ministry/Agency/HE/TVET admin staff in effective communication through
external and internal channels
• Set up a Communications and Engagement Unit for EthERNet
• Develop a communication strategy taking stakeholders into consideration
e) Secure reliable budget that can support the digital skills programme
• Establish and implement feasible business plans
• Increase the number of fund sources
• Review the existing business models elsewhere and adopt the most appropriate
business model
• Update and implement the new model
• Encourage government support
• Establish a research endowment fund
• Engage in for-profit activities as part of internally generated funds
• Advise Agencies/HE/TVET on adequate levels of spending on ICT
• Lobby for tax exemption from Ethiopian Revenue Authority
Table 50: Relation of capacity building and BPR efforts in this strategy to capacity needs from other
strategies
Capacity building and BPR efforts in
Strategy 5
Capacity needs from the other
strategies
Priority
Strategy 5.1_Capacity Building
Sub-objective 1.1: Enhance digital skills
leadership and management capacity at Ministry,
TVETs and HEIs
• Strategy 2: Reform of Digital Skills
Programs
High
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 95
• Strategy 3: Enhance Use of
Technology in Teaching and
Learning
Sub-objective 1.2: Improve capacity for digital
skills related project planning, design, and
management
• Strategy 4: Connect higher
education and TVET institutions to
affordable high-speed broadband
and Improving Campus Network
Digital Services
High
Sub-objective 1.3: Develop capacity of digital
leaders about digital skills related policy design,
development, implementation, and evaluation
• Strategy 1: Establishing Enabling
Policies, Digital Skills Framework,
and Digital Skills Assessment
Medium
Objective 2: Develop managerial capacity of
digital specialists at Ministry, HE, and TVET
institutes
• Strategy 4: Connect higher
education and TVET institutions to
affordable high-speed broadband
and Improving Campus Network
Digital Services
Medium
Objective 3: Recruit, develop and retain adequate
and quality management and technical personnel
in EthERNet and HE/TVETs/Agencies
• Strategy 1 - 4
High
Strategy 5.2_Process Reengineering
Objective 1: Enhance management processes
and administrative systems (i.e., Have effective
mechanisms for accountability of the
stakeholders)
• Strategy 1 - 4 High
Objective 2: Streamline operation processes and
improve efficiency • Strategy 2,3,4 Medium
Objective 3: Improve Support Process of
Procurement • Strategy 2,3,4 Low
Objective 4: Improve Support Process of
Communication among stakeholders for effective
implementation of digital skills programme
• Strategy 1 - 4 Low
Objective 5: Secure reliable budget that can
support the digital skills programme • Strategy 1 - 4 High
4.5.4. Implementation Timeline
For smooth implementation and follow-up, the five-year DSCAP strategic plan (2021-2025) has
be broken down into Annual Operational Plans with well-defined activities, outputs, performance
indicators and budgets under each strategic goal. An annual internal evaluation and performance
needs to be conducted to track progress. Besides, specific performance indicators and reporting
requirements also need to be agreed with all the key stakeholders at the initiation of projects. The
following table shows key milestones up to 2025, year by year.
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 96
Table 51: Key milestones up to 2025, year-by-year
Milestones Timeline Deliverables Mapping to
objectives
Responsible
Develop EthERNet governing
board and establish its legal
framework
April 2021 EthERNet
governing board
and its legal
framework
Developed
Strategy 5.2
objective 1
Director General of
EthERNet
Review all EthERNet legal
documents and standard working
procedures
April 2021 EthERNet
documents and
procedures
reviewed
Strategy 5.2
objective 1
EthERNet HR Director,
Director-General of
EthERNet
Reform EthERNet’s governance
structure to accommodate
evolving education needs
April 2021 EthERNet’s
governance
structure reformed
Strategy 5.2
objective 1
EthERNet HR Director,
Director-General of
EthERNet
Develop a comprehensive
EthERNet management structure
with its appropriate functions
April 2021 EthERNet
management
structure
developed
Strategy 5.2
objective 1
EthERNet HR Director,
Director-General of
EthERNet
Develop appropriate job
descriptions
April 2021 Job descriptions
defined
Strategy 5.2
objective 1
EthERNet HR Director,
Director-General of
EthERNet
Introduce a business
development unit/function at
EthERNet and in ICT offices of
HE/TVETs
December
2021
business
development unit
established
Strategy 5.2
objective 1
Director-General of
EthERNet
Train Ministry / Agency / HE /
TVETs admin staff in effective
communication
2021-2025 2,126 staff trained Strategy 5.2
objective 4
Director-General of
Communications
Develop a communication
strategy taking stakeholders into
consideration
December
2021
A communication
strategy developed
Strategy 5.2
objective 4
Director-General of
Communications
Establish and implement feasible
business plans
December
2021
Business plan
developed
Strategy 5.2
objective 5
Director-General of
EthERNet
Increase the number of fund
sources
2021-2023 Five fund sources
secured
Strategy 5.2
objective 5
Director-General of
EthERNet, HEs, CTEs,
TVETs
Review the existing business
models elsewhere and adopt the
most appropriate business model
August
2021
Business models
benchmarked
Strategy 5.2
objective 5
Director-General of
EthERNet, HEs, CTEs,
TVETs
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 97
Milestones Timeline Deliverables Mapping to
objectives
Responsible
Update and implement the new
model
October
2021
New model
implemented
Strategy 5.2
objective 5
Director-General of
EthERNet, HEs, CTEs,
TVETs
Establish a research endowment
fund
April 2022 Research fund
established
Strategy 5.2
objective 5
Director-General of
EthERNet
Engage in for-profit activities as
part of internally generated funds
August
2022
Internal funds
generated
Strategy 5.2
objective 5
Director-General of
EthERNet, HEs, CTEs,
TVETs
Advise agencies / universities /
agencies on adequate levels of
spending on ICT
2021-2025 1,000 stakeholders
advised
Strategy 5.2
objective 5
Director-General of
EthERNet; Director-
General of Budget;
Director-General of
Procurement
Lobby for tax exemption from
Ethiopian Revenue Authority
September
2021
Tax exemption
negotiated
Strategy 5.2
objective 5
Director-General of
Procurement, Director-
General of EthERNet
Consider a faster and less
stringent process for small value
purchases by empowering middle
managers with greater authority.
September
2021
15 processes re-
engineered
Strategy 5.2
objective 3
Director-General of
Procurement
Develop a structured capacity
building and training programme
for digital leaders
June 2021 A capacity
building and
training
programme
developed
Strategy 5.1
objective 1
Director-General of
HR, Director-General
of EthERNet
Develop resource mobilization
capacity of staff
2022-2025 2,126 staff trained Strategy 5.1
objective 1
Director-General of
EthERNet
Use consultants from
stakeholders in short-term
partnership basis
2022-2025 100 consultants
engaged
Strategy 5.1
objective 1
Director-General of
EthERNet, HEs, CTEs,
TVETs
Provide refresher courses for
project staff
2021-2025 4,252 staff trained Strategy 5.1
objective 1
Director-General of
EthERNet, HEs, CTEs,
TVETs
Constitute a Task Force to
develop policy guidelines
July 2021 Task force
established
Strategy 5.1
objective 1
Director-General of
EthERNet, HEs, CTEs,
TVETs
Train members of the policy
taskforce on key stages involved
in developing policies (Need
identification, Policy Design,
Implementation and Evaluation)
2021-2025 100 policy
taskforce members
trained
Strategy 5.1
objective 1
Director-General of
HR, Director-General
of EthERNet
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions Page 98
Milestones Timeline Deliverables Mapping to
objectives
Responsible
Identify policy challenges
confronting Digital skills
development in
Ministry/HE/TVETs
March
2021
5 policies changed Strategy 5.1
objective 1
Director-General of
HR, Director-General
of EthERNet
Develop a structured capacity
building and training programme
for digital specialists
June 2021 40,394 digital
specialists trained
Strategy 5.1
objective 2
Director-General of
HR, Director-General
of EthERNet
Mentor technical staff of HE /
TVETs / Agencies through an
internship program
2022-2025 2,126 technical
staff mentored
Strategy 5.1
objective 2
Director-General of
EthERNet
Recruit adequate number of staff
for EthERNet and HE/TVETs
September
2021
5,000 staff
recruited
Strategy 5.1
objective 3
Director-General of
EthERNet, HEs, CTEs,
TVETs
Establish a strong and structured
internship programme
2023-2025 internship
programme
established
Strategy 5.1
objective 3
Director-General of
EthERNet, HEs, CTEs,
TVETs
Restructure operation processes August
2021
No. of operation
processes
restructured
Strategy 5.2
objective 2
Director-General of
EthERNet, HEs, CTEs,
TVETs
4.5.5. Key Performance Indicators
The table below presents the major KPIs for capacity building and process reengineering. It also
indicates the timeline for their implementation.
Table 52: Key Performance Indicators (KPI)
Strategy indicators Baseline
Timeline in Academic year
2021/
2022
2022/
2023
2023/
2024
2024/
2025
2029/
2030
Develop capacity of
digital leaders
No of digital leaders
trained
Very few 25% 50% 75% 100% 100%
Develop capacity of
digital Specialists
No of digital specialists
trained
Very few 25% 50% 75% 100% 100%
Reengineer
Business Processes
No of processes
reengineered
None 90% 100% 100% 100% 100%
4.5.6. Budget Requirement
Specific to the capacity building and business process re-engineering issues, the key cost drivers
are training costs, incentives costs, and administrative expenses as shown in the following tables
(in thousands of Ethiopian birr).
Total capital cost for Strategy 5: Capacity building and business process re-engineering in Ministries
Capital Expenditure in thousands of Birrs
Sub Strategies Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10
Total –
10 Years
5.1 Capacity building 1,480
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- 1,480
5.2 Business process re-engineering
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Total Cost 1,480
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- 1,480
Total Operational cost for Strategy 5: Capacity building and business process re-engineering in Ministries
Operational Expenditure in thousands of Birrs
Sub Strategies 2021 - Year 1
2022 –
Year 2
2023 –
Year 3
2024 –
Year 4
2025 –
Year 5
2026 –
Year 6
2027 –
Year 7
2028 –
Year 8
2029 –
Year 9
2030 –
Year 10
Total –
10 Years
5.1 Capacity
building 200 128,000 128,000 128,400 128,000 134,504 22,400 22,400 22,400 22,400 736,704
5.2 Business process
re-engineering 5,760 11,520 1,920 1,920 1,920 3,840 26,880
Total Cost 5,960 139,520 129,920 130,320 129,920 130,320 22,400 22,400 22,400 22,400 763,584
Total cost for Strategy 5: Capacity building and business process re-engineering in Ministries
Sub-strategies - DSCAP
Total Budget for Strategy 5 in thousands of Birrs
2021 - Year 1 2022 – Year 2
2023 – Year 3
2024 – Year 4
2025 – Year 5
2026 – Year 6
2027 – Year 7
2028 – Year 8
2029 – Year 9
2030 – Year 10
Total – 10 Years
5.1 Capacity building in Ministries and relevant higher education/TVET authorities
1,680 128,000 128,000 128,400 128,000 134,504 8,640 8,640 8,640 8,640 738,184
5.2 Business process re-engineering
5,760 11,520 1,920 1,920 1,920 3,840 26,880
Total for Strategy 5 7,440 139,520 129,920 130,320 129,920 138,320 22,400 22,400 22,400 22,400 765,064
5. Implementation Strategies
The Ministry of Science and Higher Education is the owner of this action plan and its
implementation will be one of its priorities in the coming decade. In addition to using the already
available human and infrastructure resources it has, the ministry directly or indirectly will avail
the necessary additional resources to realize the digital skills country action plan and to attain its
goals. Based on the national strategic plan “Digital Ethiopia 2025”, the federal government of
Ethiopia through the ministry of innovation and technology has committed itself for digitization
and the development of digital skills to accelerate the growth of the country’s economy. The
planned projects to be deployed in the strategy, Digital Ethiopia 2025, cannot be realized without
digitally skilled workforce at different levels. It is therefore the duty of MoSHE to train and avail
skilled graduates at intermediate, advanced and highly specialized levels for its realization. In line
with this and based on its own 10-year high-level strategic plan, the MoSHE will be the
implementer of the digital skills country action plan. For this task, MoSHE will use different
strategies among which the main are presented below.
5.1. Involvement of Development Partners for Technical and Financial
Support
Developing digital skills of students in tertiary education and the integration of ICTs in education
requires putting together a huge sum of budget and a broad level of expertise. The ministry in
collaboration with other partnering ministries in the country, and national and international
development partners will manage the financial and technical capacity requirements for the
achievement of the action plan. Thus, involving development partners in implementing the plan
will be one of the strategies that to be considered.
Accordingly, Ministry of Education, Regional Education Bureaus, public and private HEIs,
TVETs, non-formal and lifelong learning program organizers will be coordinated in order to
proactively work to secure support for the implementation of the plan. This may involve
identifying partners that provide support to specific initiatives, sort-out the areas of their interest,
and approach them by developing relevant programs and projects in line with the digital skills
action plan to secure funds and technical supports. It is however important to maintain national
ownership of the projects even if they are supported by any of the partners. The sustainability and
the scaling up of such project activities at national level will also be considered seriously. Such
linkages and partnerships have to also be extended to civil societies, and NGOs to facilitate the
implementation of the country action plan.
5.2. Involvement of Stakeholders and the Private Sector
The ministry of science and higher education encourages the involvement of the different
stakeholders and the private sector in supporting the realization of the digital skills country action
plan. Among these stakeholders are relevant ministries in the country, industry partners, local
Digital Skills Country Action Plan for Ethiopian HE and TVET Institutions
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business companies, beneficiaries of self-capacity development organizations, local digital content
creators, infrastructure development institutions, etc. Different government organizations,
industries and private sector may commit themselves to offer support for use in the skill
development process. The ministry will devise methods to exploit the opportunities through these
partnerships. The ministry also will work on ways of availing low-cost computers to needy
students to overcome their financial burden through grants or lone.
5.3. Devise ways of other Financing Sources for the Implementation of
the Plan
The government of Ethiopia will be a major source of financing in the execution of the action plan
and ensuring sustainability. Development partners, private ICT companies, NGOs (bilateral and
multilateral), individual actors in institutions will be encouraged to finance the ICT enabling
environment and the ICT infrastructures. Local governments at regional level and the educational
institutions (public and private) will have to organize themselves to support TVETs in their
regions. Loan systems where students and staff can buy personal computing devices such as
tablets, smart phones or laptops from suppliers will have to be organized. Monitoring mechanism
will be in place to ensure that such loans are paid back. Projects and programs will be a means to
get the support from partners and donors especially for the initial costs of the ICT infrastructure
and capacity development activities.
The private sector will be encouraged to participate in financing some specific areas of common
interest. For example, in producing digital contents, in collaborating in the design of relevant and
job specific digital skill courses, in supporting internships and apprenticeships, in providing
installation services, in maintenance and technical support of ICT infrastructures for HEIs and
TVETs, etc.
5.4. Promoting Gender Equality and Supporting Disabilities
While there is a strong consensus on the potential of ICTs as a tool for the promotion of gender
equality, still there is lower number of women accessing as well as using ICT as compared to men.
As a strategy, the ministry of science and higher education gives special attention to female
students and works for gender equality. There are different initiatives to support and encourage
female students in HEIs and TVETs such as the efforts of increasing the female students’
enrollment rate. In the undergraduate programs of public HEIs, the rate of female enrollment has
increased from 26% in 2010/11 to 36% in 2018/19. Much higher female enrollment rate is achieved
in the private higher learning institutions. While the implementation of the digital skills action plan
is meant to all students in HEIs and TVETs, special consideration will be given to encourage
female students. This includes giving priorities to female students, for example in respecting their
choices, in the placements to IT related fields.
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ICTs offers special opportunities to support people with disabilities and are critically important to
support students with disabilities and special needs. The requirements and the support of students
with special needs, will be specifically addressed and should avoid the risks that ICTs may
aggravate existing inequalities. As a strategic goal, the ministry will exploit ICTs for addressing
issues in disabilities and special needs in terms of access and use as well as capacity-building
opportunities as a powerful catalyst in all HEIs and TVETs.
ANNEX
Annex I:List of Abbreviations
AAGR: Annual Average Growth Rate
AASTU: Addis Ababa Science and Technology University
AAU: Addis Ababa University
ASTU: Adama Science and Technology University
BPR: Business Process Re-engineering
BYOD: Bring Your Own Device
CE: Computer Engineering
CS: Computer Science
CTE: College of Teachers Education
DL: Digital Leader
DS: Digital Skills
DSCAP: Digital Skills Country Action Plan
DSp: Digital Specialist
EE: Electrical Engineering
EthERNet: Ethiopian Education and Research Network
FDRE: Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
FTE: Federal TVET Institute
GER: Gross Enrollment Ratio
HE: Higher Education
HEI: Higher Education Institutions
ICT: Information Communication Technology
IRD: Inception Report Document
IS: Information Science / System
ISCED: International Standard Classification of Education
ISMIS: Integrated Student Management Information System
IT: Information Technology
MInT: Ministry of Innovation and Technology
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MIS: Management Information System
MoE: Ministry of Education
MoSHE: Ministry of Science and Higher Education
PIDA: Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa
PRIDA: Policy and Regulatory Initiative for Digital Africa
TVET: Technical and Vocational Education
WB: World Bank
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Annex II: List of Public Universities and Number of Students and Faculty in
Public Universities
No Name of the University
Number
of
Students
(2019/20)
Number
of Faculty
(2019/20)
Total Student
and Faculty
1 Addis Ababa University 48,717 2,454 51,171
2 Jimma University 34,559 1,882 36,441
3 Hawassa University 44,424 1,480 45,904
4 Arba Minch University 35,749 947 36,696
5 Mekelle University 29,115 1,989 31,104
6 Bahir Dar University 46,296 1,638 47,934
7 Haramaya University 28,843 809 29,652
8 University of Gondar 45,656 2,592 48,248
9 Adama Science and Technology University 7,510 354 7,864
10 Addis Ababa Science and Technology University 8,227 858 9,085
11 Debre Markos University 13,172 938 14,110
12 Dire Dawa University 19,988 636 20,624
13 Adigrat University 19,585 815 20,400
14 Wolaita Sodo University 34,627 1,024 35,651
15 Debre Berhan University 28,761 741 29,502
16 Wolkite University 14,867 776 15,643
17 Dilla University 29,468 819 30,287
18 Wollo University 29,324 1,072 30,396
19 Madda Walabu University 23,451 726 24,177
20 Semera University 9,257 624 9,881
21 Jigjiga University 26,710 995 27,705
22 Debre Tabor University 15,798 508 16,306
23 Wollega University 19,850 736 20,586
24 Bule Hora University 10,406 587 10,993
25 Mizan Tepi University 17,483 780 18,263
26 Mettu University 13,350 413 13,763
27 Wachamo University 23,710 680 24,390
28 Woldia University 20,900 589 21,489
29 Ambo University 28,157 358 28,515
30 Assosa University 11,752 464 12,216
31 Arsi University 13,371 537 13,908
32 Axum University 26,942 1,198 28,140
33 Bonga University 4,754 195 4,949
34 Dembi Dolo University 4,332 263 4,595
35 Gambella University 5,080 275 5,355
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No Name of the University
Number
of
Students
(2019/20)
Number
of Faculty
(2019/20)
Total Student
and Faculty
36 Injibara University 5,750 178 5,928
37 Jinka University 4,175 172 4,347
38 Kebri Dehar University 2,914 197 3,111
39 Kotebe Metropolitan University 2,050 200 2,050
40 Mekidela Amba University 5,260 174 5,434
41 Oda Bultum University 4,285 229 4,514
42 Raya University 4,477 214 4,691
43 Werabe University 4,275 175 4,450
44 Selale University 4,740 375 5,115
45 Debark University 4,128 152 4,280
46 Civil Service University 7,000 400 7,400
47 Defense University 2,500 200 2,700
48 Police University College 2,000 200 2,200
49 Oromia State University 2,000 200 2,220
50 St Paul Millennium Medical College 3,000 220 3,220 Total 852,745 35,038 887,603
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Annex III: e-Competence: Title and description
A. PLAN
A.1. IS and Business Strategy Alignment: Anticipates long term business requirements,
influences improvement of organizational process efficiency and effectiveness. Determines the IS
model and the enterprise architecture in line with the organization’s policy and ensures a secure
environment. Makes strategic IS policy decisions for the enterprise, including sourcing strategies.
A.2. Service Level Management: Defines, validates, and makes applicable service level
agreements (SLAs) and underpinning contracts for services offered. Negotiates service
performance levels considering the needs and capacity of stakeholders and business.
A.3. Business Plan Development: Addresses the design and structure of a business or product
plan including the identification of alternative approaches as well as return on investment
propositions. Considers the possible and applicable sourcing models. Presents cost benefit analysis
and reasoned arguments in support of the selected strategy. Ensures compliance with business and
technology strategies. Communicates and sells business plan to relevant stakeholders and
addresses political, financial, and organizational interests.
A.4. Product/Service Planning: Analyses and defines current and target status. Estimates cost
effectiveness, points of risk, opportunities, strengths, and weaknesses, with a critical approach.
Creates structured plans; establishes time scales and milestones, ensuring optimization of activities
and resources. Manages change requests. Defines delivery quantity and provides an overview of
additional documentation requirements. Specifies correct handling of products, including legal
issues, in accordance with current regulations.
A.5. Architecture Design: Specifies, refines, updates, and makes available a formal approach to
implement solutions, necessary to develop and operate the IS architecture. Identifies change
requirements and the components involved: hardware, software, applications, processes,
information, and technology platform. Considers interoperability, scalability, usability, and
security. Maintains alignment between business evolution and technology developments.
A.6. Application Design: Analyses, specifies, updates, and makes available a model to implement
applications in accordance with IS policy and user/ customer needs. Selects appropriate technical
options for application design, optimizing the balance between cost and quality. Designs data
structures and builds system structure models according to analysis results through modelling
languages. Ensures that all aspects take account of interoperability, usability, and security.
Identifies a common reference framework to validate the models with representative users, based
upon development models (e.g., iterative approach).
A.7. Technology Trend Monitoring: Investigates latest ICT technological developments to
establish understanding of evolving technologies. Devises innovative solutions for integration of
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new technology into existing products, applications, or services or for the creation of new
solutions.
A.8. Sustainable Development: Estimates the impact of ICT solutions in terms of eco
responsibilities including energy consumption. Advises business and ICT stakeholders on
sustainable alternatives that are consistent with the business strategy. Applies an ICT purchasing
and sales policy which fulfils eco-responsibilities.
A.9. Innovating: Devises creative solutions for the provision of new concepts, ideas, products, or
services. Deploys novel and open thinking to envision exploitation of technological advances to
address business/society needs or research direction.
B. BUILD
B.1. Application Development: Interprets the application design to develop a suitable application
in accordance with customer needs. Adapts existing solutions by e.g., porting an application to
another operating system. Codes, debugs, tests and documents and communicates product
development stages. Selects appropriate technical options for development such as reusing,
improving or reconfiguration of existing components. Optimizes efficiency, cost, and quality.
Validates results with user representatives, integrates and commissions the overall solution.
B.2. Component Integration: Integrates hardware, software, or sub system components into an
existing or a new system. Complies with established processes and procedures such as,
configuration management and package maintenance. Takes into account the compatibility of
existing and new modules to ensure system integrity, system interoperability and information
security. Verifies and tests system capacity and performance and documentation of successful
integration.
B.3. Testing: Constructs and executes systematic test procedures for ICT systems or customer
usability requirements to establish compliance with design specifications. Ensures that new or
revised components or systems perform to expectation. Ensures meeting of internal, external,
national, and international standards, including health and safety, usability, performance,
reliability, or compatibility. Produces documents and reports to evidence certification
requirements
B.4. Solution Deployment: Following predefined general standards of practice carries out planned
necessary interventions to implement solution, including installing, upgrading, or
decommissioning. Configures hardware, software, or network to ensure interoperability of system
components and debugs any resultant faults or incompatibilities. Engages additional specialist
resources if required, such as third-party network providers. Formally hands over fully operational
solution to user and completes documentation recording all relevant information, including
equipment addressees, configuration, and performance data.
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B.5. Documentation Production: Produces documents describing products, services,
components, or applications to establish compliance with relevant documentation requirements.
Selects appropriate style and media for presentation materials. Creates templates for document-
management systems. Ensures that functions and features are documented in an appropriate way.
Ensures that existing documents are valid and up to date.
B.6. Systems Engineering: Engineers software and/or hardware components to meet solution
requirements such as specifications, costs, quality, time, energy efficiency, information security
and data protection. Follows a systematic methodology to analyse and build the required
components and interfaces. Builds system structure models and conducts system behavior
simulation. Performs unit and system tests to ensure requirements are met.
C. RUN
C.1. User Support: Responds to user requests and issues, recording relevant information. Assures
resolution or escalates incidents and optimizes system performance in accordance with predefined
service level agreements (SLAs). Understands how to monitor solution outcome and resultant
customer satisfaction.
C.2. Change Support: Implements and guides the evolution of an ICT solution. Ensures efficient
control and scheduling of software or hardware modifications to prevent multiple upgrades
creating unpredictable outcomes. Minimizes service disruption as a consequence of changes and
adheres to defined service level agreement (SLA). Ensures consideration and compliance with
information security procedures.
C.3. Service Delivery: Ensures service delivery in accordance with established service level
agreements (SLA‘s). Takes proactive action to ensure stable and secure applications and ICT
infrastructure to avoid potential service disruptions, attending to capacity planning and to
information security. Updates operational document library and logs all service incidents.
Maintains monitoring and management tools (i.e., scripts, procedures). Maintains IS services.
Takes proactive measures.
C.4. Problem Management: Identifies and resolves the root cause of incidents. Takes a proactive
approach to avoidance or identification of root cause of ICT problems. Deploys a knowledge
system based on recurrence of common errors. Resolves or escalates incidents. Optimizes system
or component performance.
D. ENABLE
D.1. Information Security Strategy Development: Defines and makes applicable a formal
organizational strategy, scope, and culture to maintain safety and security of information from
external and internal threats, i.e., digital forensic for corporate investigations or intrusion
investigation. Provides the foundation for Information Security Management, including role
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identification and accountability. Uses defined standards to create objectives for information
integrity, availability, and data privacy.
D.2. ICT Quality Strategy Development: Defines, improves, and refines a formal strategy to
satisfy customer expectations and improve business performance (balance between cost and risks).
Identifies critical processes influencing service delivery and product performance for definition in
the ICT quality management system. Uses defined standards to formulate objectives for service
management, product, and process quality. Identifies ICT quality management accountability.
D.3. Education and Training Provision: Defines and implements ICT training policy to address
organizational skill needs and gaps. Structures, organizes, and schedules training programmes and
evaluates training quality through a feedback process and implements continuous improvement.
Adapts training plans to address changing demand.
D.4. Purchasing: Applies a consistent procurement procedure, including deployment of the
following sub processes: specification requirements, supplier identification, proposal analysis,
evaluation of the energy efficiency and environmental compliance of products, suppliers and their
processes, contract negotiation, supplier selection and contract placement. Ensures that the entire
purchasing process is fit for purpose, adds business value to the organization compliant to legal
and regulatory requirements.
D.8. Contract Management: Provides and negotiates contract in accordance with organizational
processes. Ensures that contract and deliverables are provided on time, meet quality standards, and
conform to compliance requirements. Addresses non-compliance, escalates significant issues,
drives recovery plans and if necessary, amends contracts. Maintains budget integrity. Assesses and
addresses supplier compliance to legal, health and safety and security standards. Actively pursues
regular supplier communication
D.9. Personnel Development: Diagnoses individual and group competence, identifying skill
needs and skill gaps. Reviews training and development options and selects appropriate
methodology taking into account the individual, project, and business requirements. Coaches
and/or mentors individuals and teams to address learning needs.
D.10. Information and Knowledge Management: Identifies and manages structured and
unstructured information and considers information distribution policies. Creates information
structure to enable exploitation and optimization of information. Understands appropriate tools to
be deployed to create, extract, maintain, renew, and propagate business knowledge in order to
capitalize from the information asset.
D.11. Needs Identification: Actively listens to internal/external customers, articulates, and
clarifies their needs. Manages the relationship with all stakeholders to ensure that the solution is
in line with business requirements. Proposes different solutions (e.g., make-or-buy), by performing
contextual analysis in support of user centered system design. Advises the customer on appropriate
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solution choices. Acts as an advocate engaging in the implementation or configuration process of
the chosen solution.
E. MANAGE
E.1. Forecast Development: Interprets market needs and evaluates market acceptance of products
or services. Assesses the organization’s potential to meet future production and quality
requirements. Applies relevant metrics to enable accurate decision making in support of
production, marketing, sales, and distribution functions
E.2. Project and Portfolio Management: Implements plans for a programme of change. Plans
and directs a single or portfolio of ICT projects to ensure co-ordination and management of
interdependencies. Orchestrates projects to develop or implement new, internal, or externally
defined processes to meet identified business needs. Defines activities, responsibilities, critical
milestones, resources, skills need, interfaces and budget, optimizes costs and time utilization,
minimizes waste, and strives for high quality. Develops contingency plans to address potential
implementation issues. Delivers project on time, on budget and in accordance with original
requirements. Creates and maintains documents to facilitate monitoring of project progress.
E.3. Risk Management: Implements the management of risk across information systems through
the application of the enterprise defined risk management policy and procedure. Assesses risk to
the organization’s business, including web, cloud, and mobile resources. Documents potential risk
and containment plans.
E.4. Relationship Management: Establishes and maintains positive business relationships
between stakeholders (internal or external) deploying and complying with organizational
processes. Maintains regular communication with customer/partner/supplier, and addresses needs
through empathy with their environment and managing supply chain communications. Ensures
that stakeholder needs, concerns or complaints are understood and addressed in accordance with
organizational policy.
E.5. Process Improvement: Measures effectiveness of existing ICT processes. Research and
benchmarks ICT process design from a variety of sources. Follows a systematic methodology to
evaluate, design and implement process or technology changes for measurable business benefit.
Assesses potential adverse consequences of process change.
E.6. ICT Quality Management: Implements ICT quality policy to maintain and enhance service
and product provision. Plans and defines indicators to manage quality with respect to ICT strategy.
E.7. Business Change Management: Assesses the implications of new digital solutions. Defines
the requirements and quantifies the business benefits. Manages the deployment of change taking
into account structural and cultural issues. Maintains business and process continuity throughout
change, monitoring the impact, taking any required remedial action, and refining approach.
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E.8. Information Security Management: Implements information security policy. Monitors and
takes action against intrusion, fraud and security breaches or leaks. Ensures that security risks are
analyzed and managed with respect to enterprise data and information. Reviews security incidents
makes recommendations for security policy and strategy to ensure continuous improvement of
security provision.
E.9. IS Governance: Defines, deploys, and controls the management of information systems in
line with business imperatives. Takes into account all internal and external parameters such as
legislation and industry standard compliance to influence risk management and resource
deployment to achieve balanced business benefit.
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Annex IV: Sample Responses for Capacity Building requirement survey
6 6
8
4
6
34
1
32
10 0
10
0
2
4
6
8
10
IS and business
Strategy
alignment
Business plan
development
Architecture
Design
Technology Trend
Monitoring
Innovating
Competency requirement survey for Digital
Leaders
Crucial (extremely important)
Necessary (needed to achieve a particular result)
Desirable (worth having and wanted by some people)
Nutral (I do not know)
Not important
78
65
9
23 3
5
23
1
32
1
0123456789
10
System
Engineering
Information
Security
Management
User Support Application
Development
Problem
Management
Competency requirement survey for Digital
Specialists
Crucial (extremely important)
Necessary (needed to achieve a particular result)
Desirable (worth having and wanted by some people)
Nutral (I do not know)
Not important
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