Latest News

BDU:Bahir Dar Institute of Technology (BIT) has begun its 2nd international conference on the advancement of science and technology.

The President of Bahir Bar University, Dr. Baylie Damtie, addressing the participants, remarked that an effort is being made in developing the university in research, science and technology.

Generating wealth through the instrumentality of science and technology and graduating entrepreneurs who could set up grand business companies and create employment opportunities for our young graduates are our priorities, Dr. Baylie said.

Honourable Wondwossen Kiflu, State Minister of the Ministry of Education, making opening remarks, has underlined that the roles of higher institutions like Bahir Dar University is supplying inputs of science and technology in the nation’s development endeavors.

Technology capacity development in relation to domains like marketing and human resources is decisive and choosing and focusing on an area to leapfrog is a necessary lesson to be acquired form countries like Korea, Mr. Wondwossen said.

The Director of Ethiopian Roads Authorities, Mr. Bekele Nigussie, in his key note speech, stressed that Ethiopia is showing a relatively remarkable progress in the realm of road construction though it still has the lowest road density in the world.

Mr. Bekele urged professionals to excel in their specific fields of specialization in order to meaningfully and innovatively contribute to the development projects Ethiopia is currently undergoing. “Disorder the existing orders to make a better order”, Mr. Bekele, remarked.

Tomorrow, Saturday, May 17, 2014, presentations and plenary speeches will be made in two parallel sessions, and hence lively discussions are anticipated.

BDU:The Faculty of Humanities has recently held its first national conference, and research papers from the disciplines of linguistics language teaching, literature, culture and communications were presented by researchers from different universities of the country.

Among the papers was the one on language endangerment in Ethiopia which addressed the magnitude of language endangerment in Ethiopia.

The paper attempted to classify Ethiopian languages on endangerment scales based on data obtained from Ethiopian national census of 1994 and 2007.

The researcher has generally categorized Ethiopian languages into: very stable, stable, instable, endangered, seriously endangered, moribund and extinct, and recommend language documentation and revitalization for the languages at risk.

Research on challenges and opportunities of facebook in Ethiopia indicated that facebook is the most preferable media in the country. It is used for entertainment, socializations and emotional release functions, but not for information, education and business purposes.

A literary work on a poem, showing all the major qualities of heroic epic, in a Menzuma- religious song by Ethiopian Muslims, has confirmed that Ethiopia had a long heroic literary tradition.

Research on per-led learning on English language and literature students at Bahir Dar University has indicated that though students favored peer-led organization in learning writing, they practically prioritized teacher guided learning perhaps due to the challenges of the practical implementation of the peer-led system. Strict follow up by the institution has been recommended.

Translation had positive and negative impacts in Ethiopian literature. Right from the beginning of the use of Ethiopic script during the 4th century, translation has played a foundational role in Ethiopian literature.

Translation works, especially in Christian literature, have influenced Ethiopian literature in style and content. Translation has also played a key role in introduced Ethiopians to classical literary works.

Research on literary commitment-stressing on the social relevance of literature, on Amharic short stories: ‘kinfam hilmoch’ and ‘enatnesh’, has shown that the authors of these short stories have successfully carried out their duties as writers by addressing contemporary problems of the country such as migration, population explosion and rape.

Other issues related to folk literature, teachers professional development practices, language policy, and implementations of group work were presented and vigorous discussions were made.

Awarding the presenters with certificates, BDU’s Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Firew Tegegne made the following remark:

“Academic discourses never stop. Every time a conference like this one ends, it must be in a manner that a theme, venue and time are set for the next one so that the scholars may start contemplating what their next topics would be.”

Scientific dialogues among scholars are neither one time rituals nor bound to conference occasions only. Discourses are the true characters of academicians regardless of place and time.

Discussions need to be made, theme after theme, to contribute positively in shaping citizens and creating great thinkers and future leaders of the country that could play crucial roles in shaping the nation’s destiny.

BDU: The Department of Ethiopian Languages and Literature at Bahir Dar University commits to teaching and developing the Ethiopian languages.

Among the efforts of the department to realize this noble mission is organizing national conferences in which Ethiopian intellectuals in the field of education, linguistics, literature, folklore and media undertake crucial dialogue.

Scholars in these fields of study put their heads together to address the contemporary challenges on Ethiopian languages and literature to recommend policy ideas to policy formulators and to the government at large.

This year’s conference, held on May 5 &6,2014, has the objective of addressing diverse issues pertaining to language, literature, culture and communications in a way that intellectuals in the area could directly address the challenges the country is facing. Major research findings and recommendations were communicated to the audience on the conference.

Amharic, the current federal official language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE), has historically been Ethiopia’s national lingua franca i.e. the language of wider communication. However, given its current status in the life of Ethiopian’s, this language does not seem to be intellectualized to be used for the purpose of science and technology.

Amharic, according to some scholars on the conference, is being misused even in education system. Linguistic code-switching and terminological and structural hybridizations are common challenges observed in the modern day Amharic language.

There are some challenges, in the teaching of Amharic language in primary schools that deserve to be addressed by policy makers on the basis of research findings. In relation to mechanisms of giving feedback while offering advanced writing skills in Amharic, challenges are observed in some universities.

Research papers presented on the conference recommend the improvement of Amharic language delivery methodology both in primary and secondary schools of the country. Trainings on capacity building must be provided to teacher in those levels.

Various papers on the education and preservation different folk traditions in Ethiopia were presented on the conference. Oral traditions, language use and societal philosophy on the concept of love were addressed.

Contemporary changes on the use of Amharic language in relation to sound, affix word, syntax and meaning due to both internal and external pressure are spreading from the elites and residents of towns to socio-economically and geographical marginal areas.

Issues related to the linguistic, conceptual and communicative challenges of terminology in Amharic language basically results from the lack of knowledge of linguistics and skills of translation. There is no conceptual compatibility and correspondence in Amharic terminologies obtained through translation.

Discussion has been made on the establishment of Amharic term bank to facilitate the use of Amharic in science and technology in the process of clear, swift, accurate and trustworthy developmental communication.

A continues capacity building training on the use of Amharic language and Amharic literature to journalists in mass media, both regional and national, has been recommended.

Conferences like this one are very crucial in creating an intellectual discourse platform among Ethiopian to discuss contemporary issues pertaining to the use of Ethiopian languages and literature.

BDU: Bahir Dar Institute of Technology (BiT) is going to conduct its 2nd International Conference on the Advancement of Science and Technology (ICAST-2104) on May, 16 &17, 2014 on Poly Campus.

The objective of the conference is to create a discourse platform for academicians, institutes and industries. Policy issues of science and technology will be discussed to harness systematic efforts toward the achievement Ethiopia’s millennium development goals.

The presence of State Minister of the Ministry of Education, Mr. Wondwossen Kiflu, will give enormous boost to the conference.

Dr. Yakob Arsano, Dr. Mesfin Belachew, and staff from Germany Technical Cooperation (GIZ) are expected to make public presentation on different topics related to the theme of the conference.

Thirty six papers and twenty posters will be presented on the conference as well as technology exhibitions will be made, and a total of about two hundred participants from Ethiopia and abroad are expected to attend the conference.

BDU:Ethiopian Institute of Textile and Fashion Technology (EiTEX) at Bahir Dar University is one of the contributing sectors in Ethiopia’s journey toward industrialization. With the aim of supporting the development of textile, garment and leather industries, EiTEX enhances the country’s competitiveness on the international stage.

The institute has recently held its third annual international conference on cotton, textile and apparel value chain in Africa. Scholars from different countries such as South Africa, Kenya Belgium, China, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, India and Uganda have presented their research papers on the conference.

The conference was aimed at bringing the current African reality regarding textile, garment and apparel value chain into an intellectual platform in a way that helps Ethiopia benefit from knowledge and technology transfer, and work toward technology development and innovation. Hence, the experiences of the scholars have been shared.

According to the research report on the cotton quality assessment in Ethiopia, strong efforts to change work practices and technology on ginners as well as the introduction of marketing systems relying on cotton quality with a pricing system based on discount have been recommended in order to ensure better return for cotton growers, ginners, spinners and the national economy at large.

Ethiopian large scale cotton productions are facing several challenges that need to be swiftly addressed. Creating awareness and training small scale farmers on basic production techniques and facilitating credit to enhance productivity could help benefit the farmers.

In connection to Ethiopian cotton standard and marketing status, it has been recommended that Ethiopian cotton sectors must focus on making dramatic improvements in facilitating quality cotton production, marketing and value addition.

Addressing the growing interest of fashion designers in incorporating organic cotton in their productions, promoting the growth of cotton industries and valuing ethically produced products both locally and internationally have been recommended in relation to ethical production of organic cotton.

The rate of deterioration of textile materials can be hastened by the addition of manure and water. Soil with chicken manure and daily addition of water offered the highest fabric deterioration rate.

Based on research done on e-marketing utilization among apparel middle and small scale enterprises in Kenya, a recommendation has been made that more fashion entrepreneurs should be innovative and should keep a breast with development in e-business environment to increase their market share and their profitability.

Research on the conference, based on the experience of Kenya, has recommended that concerned organizations have to create a functional awareness among apparel consumers about sustainable consumptions, recycling and disposal practice.

According to the research conducted on social media marketing on fashion, in Kenya, facebook marketing was the most utilized social media too. On the conference, several other papers were presented and experiences, in light of the Ethiopian context, were shared.

The presentations and the discussions were so lively. The core point, however, is the lesson Ethiopia could draw from the experiences of these countries to realize its endeavor of technology transfer was very important.

Students and instructors of EiTEX have prepared exhibition displaying a lot of creative works they have undertaken in the areas of textile and fashion. The institute’s students have also performed fashions on stages.

Bahir Dar University aspires to build an education system on a practical foundation that could transform the society based on science and technology. EiTEX begins third annual conference

BDU:The Faculty of Humanities at Bahir Dar University has begun its first national conference on language, literature, culture and communications.

The President of Bahir Dar University Dr.Baylie Damtie made an opening remark stressing the necessity of discourse among Ethiopian intellectuals on the contemporary issues related to the field of humanities.

In his keynote address Professor Abiy Yigzaw has clearly underlined that the faculty of humanities has a wide-ranging vision of developing research, partnership and discourse among the scholars in the field.

The first paper on language endangerment in Ethiopia dealt with the contemporary sociolinguistic status of Ethiopian languages based on the researcher's creatively made eclectic parameters.

Papers focusing on facebook as a media platform, folk literature and heroic epic in Ethiopia, in the morning session of the first day, have been presented. The afternoon program has been run in two parallel sessions.

In this first session, papers on writing through peer-led learning, mother-tongue education, an English language professional development practices have been presented and lively discussions were made.

In the second session, papers on the role of translation on Ethiopian literature, Ethiopian language policy, pronouns in Argoba language and a comparative analysis on nature, attributes and reporting praxis of Dagu have been presented, and vigorous discussions were made.

Tomorrow, on the second day of the conference, six papers are expected to be presented. Faculty to begin national conference

India-EthioBDU:Indian ambassador to Ethiopia, Mr. Sanjay Verma, has recently visited Bahir Dar University.

Ethiopia and India have historical ground of bilateral relationships, said Mr. Sanjay.

India is one of the beneficiaries of huge socio-economic changes, Mr. Sanjay pointed out.

In a bilateral relationship with Ethiopia, India has been supporting Ethiopia in technology transfer, people-to-people relations and in offering graduate and postgraduate Indian scholarship to Ethiopian students, Mr. Sanjay said.

India aspires to strengthen its bilateral relation with Ethiopia in connection to Science, Technology, Textile, Engineering and Marine Technology Research.

Presently, 10,000 Indians trained in different disciplines work in Ethiopia, and 1000 of this teach in universities and colleges in the country.

Indicating that India has a rich experience in Space Science and Technology, and in translating knowledge into practice, BDU’s president, Dr. Baylie Damtie, has expressed that BDU will commit to working with India.

April 27BDU:The Department of History and Heritage Management has organized an event of commemorating 73rd anniversary of the victory great Ethiopian martyrs have achieved over the aggressive fascist power, Italy.

The Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Mr. Embiale Beyene, while officially opening the event, has indicated that there are two types of patriotism: traditional patriotism and modern patriotism.

Reflecting on the historic achievement of the generation of the period of the occupation, Mr. Embiale has stressed that this generation has to also fight its own battle of assuring democracy, human rights, good governance and development.

Papers focusing on the history of liberation struggle, the roles of British force during the struggle and the implication of the victory for the present generation, especially in connection to the current ensuing era of globalization have been presented. Lively discussions were made.

“We must learn from both good side and bad side of history, but through it all we must pick constructive lessons.” stressed Dr. Tigab Bezie, the chair on the panel.

“Extraordinary history has been done by patriotic Ethiopians, yet this generation has its own battle which does not require swords, but devolution, hard work and understanding to fight,” said BDU’s Director of Internal Relations and Communication, Mr. Gulilat Menbere.

Dr. Dagmawi Tesfaye,Dr.Fantahun Ayele and Asrat Araya presented papers on the occasion.

Instructors, students, management and other members of the university community have attended the program.

SustainableBDU:College of Science at Bahir Dar University has recently held second national conference on the contribution and challenges of science in sustainable development.

The conference aimed at sharing knowledge and experience among the nation’s leading scientists on how to better the life of the society in using natural resources through scientific means.

The second national conference is meant to focus on using natural resources in a way biodiversity is not affected.

It has been indicated on the conference that humanities existence depends on the safety of biodiversity, so taking care of biodiversity would guarantee the safety of human beings.

Preserving biodiversity through the application of scientific means will ensure sustainable development.

The Dean of Science, Dr. Essey Kebede, said on the conference that science could have some side effects which can pose different challenges and which on the other hand can be dealt with through scientific ways.

Professors from Ethiopia and United States have presented their research works. Sixty papers were presented. Students and teachers from secondary schools in Bahir Dar have also attended the conference.

BDU:The Department of Ethiopian Languages and Literature, Amharic, began its second national conference aimed at discussing the contemporary issues of Amharic language, education, literature and culture.

Representing the President of Bahir Dar University, Mr. Molla Ababu, BDU’s Vice President for Information and Strategic Communication, has indicated that researches on culture in relation to socio-economic development need to be prioritized to support our knowledge and understanding based on the basis of research findings.

Crediting the institutionalized efforts made on the development of Amharic, Mr. Molla has pledged that the university will support the intellectuals’ effort of addressing the challenges of Amharic language and creating policy ideas.

On the occasion, Professor Baye Yimam, a prominent Ethiopian linguist, has enlightened the audience on the historical evolution of the status of Amharic and its development toward the country’s lingua franca.

Amharic, according to Professor Baye, had constitutionally been enshrined, for the first time, as Ethiopia’s official language during the period of Emperor H/Selassie I.

Ethiopia began its journey of linguistic pluralism as fifteen different indigenous Ethiopian languages were used for literacy campaign during the socialist period, Professor Baye said.

Professor Baye has also pointed out that the current linguistic pluralism in Ethiopia has challenges that need to be swiftly addressed.

Papers have been presented and discussions were made.Second national conference on Amharic to commence

Pages

Read More