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ከፍተኛ አመራሩ በቆለላ ሶላር መንደር የማህበረሰብ አገልግሎት ሳይት የተቀናጀ ልማት የመስክ ምልከታ አካሄደ

በባሕር ዳር ዩኒቨርስቲ ፕሬዘዳንት ዶ/ር ፍሬው ተገኘ የተመራው የዩኒቨርሲቲው ከፍተኛ አመራር በምዕራብ ጎጃም ዞን ሰሜን ሜጫ ወረዳ ቆለላ ሶላር መንደር በዩኒቨርስቲው ምርምርና ማህበረሰብ አገልግሎት የተከናወኑ የተቀናጀ ልማት ተግባራትን ጎበኘ፡፡

የተከናወኑ ተግባራትም በዋናነት በግብርናው ዘርፍ በታዳሽ በኃይል አቅርቦት፣ የመሰረተ ልማትና በትምህርት ዘርፍ የአቅም ግንባታ ናቸው፡፡

የፕሮጀክቱ አስተባባሪ አቶ አሰፋ አቤልነህ የተሰሩ ስራዎችን ያስጎበኙ ሲሆን በመነሻነት በ10 ሄክታር የተራቆተ መሬት ላይ የተተከሉ ችግኞች፣በ9 አርሶአደሮች የተሰራ ከባህላዊ ቀፎ  ወደ ሽግግር ቀፎ ተግባር፣ በባሕር ዳር ዩኒቨርሲቲ ድጋፍ በግለሰቦች ማሳ ኩታገጠም ወጭ መጋራትን መሰረት ተደርጎ የተተከሉ 5838 የአቦካዶ ችግኞች፣ 1000 ኪሎ ዋት የሚያመነጭ የጸሃይ ሃይል እና ለቆለላ አንድነት ት/ቤት 1300 ተማሪዎች እና በዙሪያው ለሚገኙ 400 ለሚደርሱ ቤተሰቦች አገልግሎት የሚሰጥ የንፁህ የመጠጥ ውሃ አቅርቦት ይጠቀሳሉ፡፡Anchor

በተጨማሪም ለ16 አርሶ አደሮች በፀሃይ ሃይል የሚሰራ የመብራት እና ቻርጅ አገልግሎት የሚሰጥ የባዮ ጋዝ ስርጭት መከናወኑን አሰተባባሪው ጠቅሰው ተሞክሮውን በመቅሰም 785 አባ ወራዎች በራሳቸው ገዝተው የቴክኖሎጂው ተጠቃሚ እየሆኑ ይገኛሉ ብለዋል፡፡ ይህም ዩኒቨርሲቲው የዕውቀት ምንጭ ሆኖ ከማገልገል ባለፈ ለህብረተሰቡ ቴክኖሎጂ የማሳወቅ፣ የማሸጋገርና የማላመድ ስራ እየሰራ ለመሆኑ ማሳያ ነው ብለዋል፡፡

በተጨማሪም ከ12-20 ለሚደርሱ መምህራን አጫጭር ስልጠናዎችን፣ ለ6 መምህራን የረጅም ጊዜ የነፃ ትምህርት እድል በመስጠት፣ ትምህርት ቤቱ ለመማር ማስተማር ምቹ ይሆን ዘንድ ደግሞ የ300ሜትር የውሃ ቧንቧ በመዘርጋት የተለያዩ ችግኞች መተከላቸው ከአቅም ግንባታ ስራዎች ተጠቃሽ ናቸው፡፡

የመንደሩ የተቀናጀ ልማት አስተባባሪ ከሚቀጥለዉ አመት ጀምሮ መንደሩን ለቴክኖሎጂ ሽግግር ማዕከል ለማድረግ በወጣዉ ስልታዊ ዕቅድ መሰረት የተቀናጀ ግብርናን የማዘመን ስራ በመስራት ፣የመንደሩን የመሬት አጠቃቀምና ወደፊት እድገት ካርታ ማዘጋጀት፣አማራጭ የሃይል ምንጮችን ለመንደሩ በማቅረብ፣ በመንደሩ ዉስጥ የሚገኙ ወጣቶችን በተለያዩ ገቢ ማስገኛ ስራዎች በማደራጀት፣ የማህበረሰቡን አመለካከት እና አካባቢአዊ ተቋማት አሰራር ሊቀይሩ የሚችሉ የተለያዩ የአቅም ግንባታ ስራዎችን በመስራት፣ የመንደሩ ነዋሪዎች አካባቢያቸዉን ሳይለቁ እና ወደ ከተማ ሳይሰደዱ መንደሩን ወደ ኢንዱስተሪ ማህበረሰብ የመቀየር ስራ ይሰራል ብለዋል፡፡

 

ከጉብኝቱ በኃላ በአመራሩ እና ወረዳው ባለሙያዎች መካክል ውይይት ተካሂዷል፡፡ በውይይቱ ወቀት የዩኒቨርሲቲው ፕሬዘዳንት ዶ/ር ፍሬው ተገኘ የፕሮጀክቱ የ5 ዓመት እድሜ ረጅም ጊዜ መሆኑን ጠቁመው በትምህርት ቤቱ ሁለገብ የሆነ ስራ በመስራት ለሌሎች በአርአያነት የሚታይ እንዲሆን ማድረግ አለብን ብለዋል፡፡

በመጨረሻም ዶ/ር ፍሬው ተገኘ ለቆለላ አንድነት ትምህርት ቤት ርዕሰ መምህር አቶ ስራው እጅጉ ለአካባቢው ማህበረሰብ ሞዴል ሊሆን የሚችል እና ከአካባቢው ቁሳቁስ ሊሰራ የሚችል የመኖሪያ ቤት እና የወተት ላም ቤት ቁልፍ ርክክብ አድርገዋል፡፡

በጉብኝቱ ጉዳዩ የሚመለከታቸው ዳይሬክተሮች እና የወረዳና ቀበሌ ባለሙያዎች ተሳትፈውበታል ፡፡

የባሕር ዳር ዩኒቨርሲቲ የአማርኛ ቋንቋ ማበልጸጊያ ተቋም (አቋማተ) ስድስተኛው የአማርኛ ቋንቋና የባህል ዘርፎች አገር አቀፍ አውደ ጥናት በዋናው ግቢ አዳራሽ ከሚያዝያ 16-17/2010 ዓ/ም ድረስ ያካሂዳል።

በአውደ ጥናቱ ላይ ተገኝተው የእንኳን ደህና መጣችሁ ንግግር ያደረጉት የባሕር ዳር ዩኒቨርሲቲ የአማርኛ ቋንቋ ማበልጸጊያ ተቋም (አቋማተ) ዳይሬክተር የሆኑት ዶ/ር መለሰ ገላነህ ሲሆኑ እንደርሳቸው ገለጻ አማርኛ የግዕዝን የውል ቋንቋነት ውርስ በኢትዮጵያ ማገልገል ከጀመረ በርካታ ሽህ ዘመናት እንዳስቆጠረና ቋንቋው ከ12ኛው ክፍለ ዘመን ጀምሮ የቤተ መንግስት የስራ ቋንቋ ሆኖ በማገልገል ላይ የሚገኝ እንደሆነና በዘመናዊት ኢትዮጵያ ብሄራዊ ወይም የስራ ቋንቋ ሆኖ ማገልገል ከጀመረ 160 አመታት በላይ እንዳስቆጠረ፣ አማርኛ በሁሉም የኢትዮጵያ ከተሞች የጋራ መግባቢያ ሆኖ በማገልገል ላይ እንደሆነ፣ በበርካታ የተግባቦት አመቶች እያገለገለ ያለ ቋንቋ መሆኑና በከፍተኛ የትምህርት ተቋማት ማገልገል ከጀመረም ከግማሽ ክፍለ ዘመን በላይ እንዳስቆጠረና ከኢትዮጵያ አልፎ በአሜሪካ ሀገር በሚገኙ ግዛቶችና በእስራኤል እና በአንዳንድ አረብ ሀገራት የመግባቢያ ቋንቋ እንደሆነ ዳይሬክተሩ ተናግረዋል። አማርኛ በውጭ ሀገራት እንደኮርስም ሆነ እንደ ትምህርት ቋንቋነት እያገለገለ እንደሚገኝና አማርኛን በኮርስ ደረጃ በጣሊያን ሀገር ለመስጠት ከባሕር ዳር ዩኒቨርሲቲ  ሂዩማኒቲስ ፋካሊቲ ጋር ስምምነት ላይ እንደተደረሰ ገልጸው ነገር ግን ይህ ሁሉ የአማርኛ አብርክቶት /እሴት/ ቢኖርም ግን አሁንም የአማርኛ ቋንቋ ልማት በሚጠበቀው መልኩ እየተከናወነ አለመሆኑ አሳሳቢ እንደሆነ ጠቁመዋል። በቋንቋው ላይ የሚስተዋለውን ችግር ለመቅረፍ በብቸኝነት እየሰራ ያለው ተቋም የባሕር ዳር ዩኒቨርሲቲ የአማርኛ ቋንቋ ማበልጸጊያ ተቋም (አቋማተ) እንደሆነና ተቋሙ በቋንቋው ላይ የሚታየውን ክፍተት ለመሙላት የተለያዩ የማህበረሰብና የምርምር ተግባራትን በማከናወን ላይ እንደሚገኝ የአውደ ጥናት ተሳታፊዎች ገልጸዋል።

የአማርኛ ቋንቋ በሴማዊ የቋንቋ ግንድ ከሚመደቡ የአለም ቋንቋዎች በተናጋሪ ብዛት ሁለተኛ እንደሆነና የእድሜ ባለጸጋነቱንና የብዙ ተናጋሪ ባለቤትነቱን ያህል እንደሌሎች ቋንቋዎች በልጽጎ በየዘመኑ ልክ የሚያስፈልገውን ሁሉ ማድረግ የሚያስችል ቁመና አለው ወይ የሚለውን አስቸጋሪ ጥያቄ ለመመለስ ከባድ እንደሆነና የቀድሞ አባቶቻችን የራሳችን የሆነ ቋንቋና ፊደላትን አስረክበው ቢያልፉም ለተከታታይ ትውልዶች የማበልጸግ ስራ ባለመስራታችን ኢትዮጵያዊ የሆኑ ቋንቋዎችን በተለይም አማርኛ በውድቀት ላይ እንደሆነ የቅርብ ጥናቶች እንደሚያመለክቱ የተናገሩት በመርሀ ግብሩ ላይ ተገኝተው የመክፈቻ ንግግር ያደረጉት የባሕር ዳር ዩኒቨርሲቲ የምርምር ዳይሬክተር የሆኑት ዶ/ር ብዙአየሁ ቀሪሰው ናቸው። አክለውም ቋንቋው ከመግባቢያነቱ አልፎ የተጠቃሚውን ሁለንተናዊ አውድ የተሸከመ ከመሆኑ አንጻር ውድቀቱ የማንነት ውድቀት እንደሚሆንና የቋንቋ የእድገት ደረጃ የተጠቃሚውን የአስተሳሰብ ልዕልና፣ የማስታወስ ችሎታ፣ ችግርን የመፍታትና የፈጠራ የክህሎት ደረጃ እንደሚወስንና እነዚህ ጉዳዮች ከግለሰብ አልፈው የማህበረሰብና የሀገርን የእድገት ደረጃ ወሳኝ በመሆናቸው የቋንቋችንን የውድቀት ምክንያቶችን መርምረን መፍትሄ በማፈላለግ የማበልጸግ ስራ በርትተን ካልሰራን የሚታሰበው የሀገር ዕድገት ለውጥ ለማምጣት አስቸጋሪ እንደሚሆን ተናግረዋል፡፡ የባሕር ዳር ዩኒቨርሲቲ ይህን ችግር በመገንዘብ የቋንቋውን እድገት ችግሮችን ለማጥናትና የአማርኛን ቋንቋ የማበልጸግና የሚበለጽግበትን መንገድ ቀይሶ የተለያዩ ስራዎችን በመስራት ላይ እንደሆነ ዳይሬክተሩ ገልጸዋል።

የሁሉም አይነት እውቀት መጠቅለያ፣ ማውጫና ማውረጃ እንደ እንግሊዝኛ ያለ ሀያልና ዘመናዊ ቋንቋ እንደሌለና ለአለም ሁሉ በሚባል ደረጃ በሽያጭም ሆነ በእውቀትና መረጃ የሚቀርበው በዚህ ቋንቋ እንደሆነና ኢትዮጵያዊያንም የምንጨልፈው በዚሁ ቋንቋ በመሆኑ የገበያው ተሳታፊና አትራፊ ለመሆን ከዚህ የተሻለ እድል መፍጠር እንደሚያስፈልግና ምክንያቱም ህዝባችን እንግሊዝኛን ጠንቅቆ አለማወቅና ተጠቃሚ አለሆን እንደሚታይብንና ለዚህም ገበያተኛ ለመሆን ያለአማራጭ እንግሊዝኛን በወጉ ማወቅና በሱ መጠቀም ሲሆን ሌላኛው ደግሞ የራሳችንን ቋንቋዎች ማበልጸግና የቴክኖሎጂው መቀባበያ ማድረግ እንደሚያስፈልግና እንግሊዝኛውን በወጉ አውቆ በወጉ መጠቀም ግን በአሁኑ አያያዝ አስቸጋሪ በመሆኑና ከደርግ ዘመን ጀምሮ የቋንቋም ሆነ አጠቃላይ የትምህርት ስነ-ዘዴና ስርዓተ ቋንቋውን በደንብ አውቆ ሌላውንም ለማወቅ እንዳላስቻለና እጀ ሰባራ እንዳደረገን የገለጹት በመርሀ ግብሩ ላይ ተገኝተው ቁልፍ ንግግር ያደረጉት ፕሮፌሰር ባየ ይማም ናቸው። ፕሮፌሰሩ አክለውም ሀሳብ ሳይንስን ቋንቋ አፍኖን ብዙ ጉዳት እንዳደረሰብንና ከሳሪ እንጂ አትራፊ አለመሆናችን ገልጸው ነገር ግን አማራጩ እንግሊዝኛን ማስተማሪያ ሳይሆን አንብቦ መረጃ ማድረጊያ መሆን እንዳለበትና በድህረ ገጽ ይሁን በፊት ለፊት የማስተማሪያ ዘዴ የራሳችንን ቋንቋ መጠቀምና ማበልጸግ አስፈላጊ እንደሆነና በራሳችን ቋንቋ ማሰብ፣ ያሰብነውን መተግበር የምንችለው የእኛውን ቋንቋ መጠቀም ስንችል እንደሆነ ገልጸዋል።

በአምሳሉ ጥላሁን

Bahir Dar University and Amhara National Regional State Bureau of Civil Service and Human Resource Development have signed Memorandum of understanding to work together on developing human resources and also to conduct research on the area.

President of BDU, Dr. Firew Tegegne and the Vice-head of ANRS Civil Service and Human Resource Development Bureau Ato Muluken Ayehu have signed the MoU. They both have agreed to bring the MoU into action as soon as possible.

Also in attendance were representatives of BDU at management and department level, and experts from the Civil Service Bureau.

The book entitled "Socio Ecological System Dynamics:Characteristics,Trends, and Integration in the Lake Tana Basin,Ethiopia" has been published in Springer. It has 35 chapters and 652 pages. BDU’s staff member Mr. Goraw Goshu and Mr. Shimels Ayenalem are among the editors of the book. The book is performing above average in the Earth and Environmental Science eCollection with over 13,000 downloads in 2017 only.

http://www.bookmetrix.com/detail/book/10.1007/978-3-319-45755-0?sap-outb...

In an event that was organized on April 5, 2014, Bahir Dar University honored scores of staff who excelled in research and publication. The objective of the event was to stimulate academic staff to engage in research and help them contribute their part in realizing the vision of the University, a vision of becoming one of the premier research universities in Africa by 2025. Over 70 people attended the event. During the event, the president of the University, Dr Baylie Damtie, awarded certificates of recognition to nine colleges and faculties for their good work in publishing, and to 32 academic staff who published from 3 to 11 articles in prestigious journals in just one year. Three top researchers were awarded a special offer, an equivalent of a gold medal. The offer was to choose and visit a prominent African University or a research institution of international standing in the researcher’s own field. They are expected to visit it for one week and return with lessons learned that will practically be applied here in the University. Dr Baylie promised to maintain this tradition of honor every year. After an introduction by Dr Tesfaye Shiferaw, vice president for Research and Community Services, about the concept of a research university, Dr Melaku Wale, research director of the University, presented a summary of journal articles published by academic staff during the last one year. A total of 270 journal articles were published by 119 authors in 170 journals that were published around the world. According to his report, the number of research activities, staff engaged in research and amount of budget allocated for research has steadily increased over the past three years (2011 to present). After the award ceremony, a panel of senior researchers (Dr Mulugeta Kibret, Dr Tadesse Amsalu, Dr Enyew Adgo and Mr Worku Yaze) convened and discussed on the following issues. Dr Baylie posed the questions to the panel members turn by turn. Panelists responded to each question their own way. 1.What motivates academic staff to do research? Responses: Themes be identified, declare research is a responsibility of every staff member, doing research improves one’s career, solves problems of the society, results can be used for teaching. For a student, the purpose of research may be a desire to get a degree or a desire to solve societal problems. 2.How do you increase the number of quality research? Quality research underpins our status in research in Africa. Responses: constantly upgrade research skill (staff and students), supply inputs (labs, offices, etc.) have research agenda in place which any group picks as required, seek funds, create conducive environment for research, promote networking and linkages, revise themes constantly, devise incentive or motivation mechanisms, inherent instinct for research is important, eliminate bureaucracy in research finance administration, launch honorarium schemes to free staff obsessed with solving meager incomes. Meager incomes prevent staff from exploiting their potential. Groups that write projects and win research funds must be officially recognized. High impact factors of publications may be achieved if we use international standard research equipment and procedures. Joint researches may help us bypass the requirement for sophisticated equipment because we can get them from the partnerships. High impact factor journals accept manuscripts that are conducted using state-of-the-art technology and equipment. We may have to subscribe for journals that demand subscription. Local journals must be improved. We are not even able to access our own journals because we publish them in journals that are not ours. We need to publish research results in proceedings for easy access locally and otherwise. Experience sharing tours are necessary (abroad and local). Higher university officials should know the potential of their own staffs. 3.Does input matter? Why do we not see research progressing in fields where hard facilities are not a prerequisite (example mathematics)? Responses: Even in Africa, Ethiopian Universities are not in the list of research universities. Systems for ranking research universities vary. Ranking also considers availability of inputs and material resources, without which ranks significantly fall and you are not going to be in the list. Incentive schemes, skill upgrading, joint projects are all important. Your papers are like your children who you love most. Some academic staff tend to be attracted to projects that offer economic benefits. The danger here is the allegation that these may be donor driven, which may be contrary to your best interest. Our journals seriously suffer from substandard English language. 4.Take your field of study as an example and state where you stand in terms of research (taking Africa as baseline)? Responses: no benchmark as of now, not even local ones surveyed, a homework for us. Hard data are required, but nevertheless, we see other high profile universities in Africa such as Mekerere, Kenyatta, Stellenbosch, etc. To be a contender, we need to choose the criteria because criteria vary. Criteria may include, among others, number and quality of papers. To publish in prestigious journals, we need to work in partnership with other advanced institutions (universities) around the world who have sophisticated infrastructure. We can benefit from those resources until ours are in place. Conclusions (panelists): Internalize the concept of research, establish systems for monitoring and evaluation, improve finance process (open LC?), promote synergy and eliminate duplication of effort, promote interfaculty and interdisciplinary collaboration. Today’s forum must be accessible to the lowermost structure too; it should not be restricted to a small segment of the University community. Issues raised today should be resolved right away and we should never raise them next time we meet (issues such as facility, financial hurdles). Today’s event was stimulating. Many of us have changed sides in favor of our university. The top leadership should focus on creating partnerships, not on routine activities. Promote sense of accountability and competitiveness. Honorarium frees staff off from the bondage of survival. What stage does the university find it itself now? Finally Dr Baylie suggested the following issues: Today’s congregation was fruitful. The proceedings should be posted in the website for others to access it. We will organize a similar forum for Postgraduate programs and also for Research centers English language issue will be solved soon. We have established contact with Oklahoma and we will soon have an expatriate staff in place who will be stationed in the new building. Data analysis will also be considered. SPSS alone should not be the one we have to use The Deans are expected to lead the research but today many are not here How to establish partnerships. We will sponsor our staff to do oral presentations in genuine conferences around the globe and at the same time expect them to establish partnerships. This is one strategy we shall adopt in the near future. Beware of gamblers such as the ones we see in West Africa or elsewhere. We also send teams of researchers and leaders to establish chosen partnerships (such as the one we did in Norway this past week). Please upload your CVs in the website which helps attract potential partners. The University administration also shall launch partnerships. Research fund utilization. As to the university administration, we really want to settle financial transactions by results rather than vouchers and receipts. We shall move towards that as far as we can go. We shall improve our website, our gateway to the world. Just 119 of our 1500 academic staff published papers this past year. In terms of percentage it is low. However, if they are the finest possible, they will be enough. We do not expect everybody to excel. Just a few individuals can make it. Therefore, we need to overcome the challenge of basic needs of our staff, i.e., ensuring family survival and maintenance/subsistence. We need to provide them housing first and provide other necessities step by step. At this juncture, we want to reiterate the devotion of the University management to promote the research. By Melaku Wale(PhD)

BDU:The University’s Institute of Technology for Textile, Garment and Fashion Design(IoTEXT) has recently conducted the second international conference on”Cotton,Textile and Apparel Value Chain in Africa.” According to BDU’s Administration Board Chairperson and IoT/IoTEX Supervisory Board Chairperson Alemnew Mekonnen, his government has been implementing Growth and Transformation Plan in an effort to bring enormous change at country level. He also said that Ethiopia has huge growth potential in the sector of Textile and Garment and its targeting to make huge gains from the sector in the era of Growth and Transformation. “Cotton, Textile and Apparel Value Chain efforts cannot be successful without the involvement of Universities and research institutions.” While welcoming guests at the conference, IoTEX Deputy Scientific Director Assistant Professor Addisu Ferede explained that the conference would enable participants to share experiences and knowledge and emulate best practices in an effort to make the African Textile and Garment sector competitive at international markets. “The conference would contribute significantly for the development of textile and garment sector of Africa,” said Addisu. In his address to participants, BDU’s President Dr.Baylie Damtie, noted that the conference of such type would add impetus towards making the University one of the top ten universities of Africa in 2025. “The institute would help the nation bring the much needed foreign currency by supporting the industry through training, consultancy, research and production of labour force, “expounded Dr.Baylie. Speaking at the conference, Ethiopian Public and Private Enterprises Supervisory Agency Beyene Gebremeskel underlined the importance of utilizing abundant resource to develop the textile and garment sector in Africa. During the two-day conference, Students and Staff of the institute exhibited outfits designed and manufactured by themselves at the conference and also demonstrated fashion show to participants. The Conference was given a massive boost by the presence of BDU’s Administrative Board Chairperson and IOTEX/IOT Supervisory Board Chairperson Alemnew Mekonnen, Ethiopian Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervisory Agency Director General Beyene Gebremeskel, Industry Leaders, Academicians, Researchers and Government and Non government representatives.

BDU:The second edition of Bahir Dar University’s Institute of Textile, Garment and Fashion Design (IoTEX) international conference is scheduled to kick off, from May 10th -11th,2013 with the theme”Cotton,Textile and Apparel Value Chain in Africa.” The presence of The Amhara National Regional State Vice President and BDU’s Administrative Board Chairperson and IoTEX/IoT Supervisory Board Chairperson Alemnew Mekonnen is going to give a massive boost to the conference. The conference will also be graced by the attendance of Privatization and Public Enterprises Supervising Agency Director General Beyene Gebremeskel and other distinuished delegates from Business firms, academia,government and non government organizations . On the occasion,It was learnt that around 15 researchers from different countries (Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Uganda, India and United Kingdom) and a total of 250 high profile participants will be present. According to Biruk Ketema, Chief Coordinator of the Public Relations Division of the Conference, the conference will discuss on challenges and prospects of African Textile and Garment Industry. Detail news about the conference will be published soon.

BDU’s College of Education and Behavioral Science has held the 35th Annual International Education Conference with a theme of “Higher Education in Ethiopia: Advancing teaching, research and community outreach engagement” on May 19 and 20, 2017 at Peda Campus, Auditorium Hall. 

Dr. Andargachew Moges, dean of College of Education and Behavioral Science, in his welcoming speech said that the college is the oldest and one of the classical academic unit (preceded by Polytechnic Institute) in the history of BDU, and that it has sustained the May Annual Conference for the last 35 years. He also noted that the college aspires to become a center of excellence in teacher education and educational leadership programs being up-to-date and relevant to the national development needs and directions of the nation. The conference has aimed at creating opportunity for academicians and decision makers to reflect, deliberate and debate on how higher education in Ethiopia could contribute to the development of the nation through its research, learning and community outreach missions, he added. 

Dr. Baylie Damtie in his opening speech to conference has emphasized on two major issues. He argued that our student evaluation system and education curriculum should not be foreign oriented rather they should be locally driven in order to utilize local context and wisdom. He also said that the current and usual research methodologies are designed by foreign oriented philosophies and he recommended for new research methodologies and systems taking into account different local values and contexts.

On the conference, in addition to 6 keynote speeches, 30 empirical studies are presented. 

 Bahir Dar University Faculty of Social Science has held the 4th Annual National Social Science conference here at BDU.   
 In his welcoming speech, dean of the Faculty of Social Science, Dr. Gedef Abawa, has explained the activities that the faculty is undertaking in view of the mission and vision of the university. He also noted that the conference is organized with the aim of addressing various themes with a wide range of socio-cultural, political and environmental issues and problems that demand serious attention and urgent intervention. 
In the conference, around 13 research papers were presented. While some of the papers investigate the existing policy directions and implementation gaps manifested in heritage and tourism, gender and women right, traditional versus evolving social welfare of the country, others discuss the dilemma, challenge and conflicting interests in the management and utilization of natural resources as well as the rifts and imbalance between development programs and local community interests. Of the 13 research papers, 10 of them were presented by Bahir Dar University researchers.
Prof. Shument Sishange, Fulbright scholar and currently working at the department of history, Dr. Wassie Anteneh, Research director of BDU, other faculty members, PhD as well as Masters Students have attended the conference. 

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