Ethiopia is a large country located in the north-eastern part of Africa, this country is the oldest country in all of Africa and is currently home to 120,062,207 people. The country is not known for being a top tourist destination; however, it is a country with largest number of UNESCO world heritage sites, universally. Ethiopia is also the homeland of the first coffee bean, something all coffee lovers think of when the name Ethiopia is brought up. The country follows different traditions than other African countries and one if its very distinctive things is that the country follows a calendar made up of thirteen months and not twelve! The county’s capital city is Addis Ababa and is where the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa headquarters are, resultantly, Addis Ababa has become known as Africa’s political state.
There are linguistically diverse regions and countries and then there’s Ethiopia. There is a total of 80 different spoken languages at Ethiopia and while English is the official language for education there, lowering the language barrier. The most dominant languages there are Oromo, Amharic, Somali and Tigrinya.
The official currency for exchange at Ethiopia is known as the Ethiopian birr, the banknotes are printed out by their central banks and it is subdivided into 100 santim. The exchange rate for buying an Ethiopin birr is ብር 51.49.
Ethiopia is a landlocked country in East Africa, it is found in the horn of Africa. The country borders near the west are formed with Sudan, Kenya borders the country from the south, Somalia and Dijbouti from the east side and Eritrea from the North.The country is the second most populated African country and is the twenty seventh in area across the world. More than 50% of the continents mountains are found the country of Ethiopia and the climate there is arid.
Despite the language diversity at the country, their religious beliefs are not. The majority of Ethiopians are Christians, over 60%, followed by the Muslim community and only around 3% have different beliefs and follow different religions.
The county of Ethiopia holds a lot of pride in being the only African country which has never been colonized. The current governing political regime is the federal parliamentary republic. There head of state is their prime-minister who is voted upon and their legislative powers fall in the hands of the government and two parliamentary chambers. Even though the country has been at peace for the past 20 years, Ethiopia’s democracy rank is amongst the lowest in the world and the country currently has an ongoing conflict with Egypt regarding the newly built dam in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia’s history of being a country of constant political instability, conflicts and crime have been negatively affecting tourism in the country for many years now even though the country has been experiencing stability and growth. The country is considered a UNESCO open museum due to the number of official UNESCO sites; the most popular attractions at Ethiopia is historical and the not all are man-made. One of the attractions are hiking at the Semien mountains and viewing the medical building of the churches in Lalibela.
There is something to eat for everyone at Ethiopia, their cuisine caters for carnivores, vegetarians and vegans all year long. Where it is very common for people to inform you that they do not eat meat due to religious beliefs. Their famous dishes though are mostly made of a protein served with vegetables and stew, served on flatbread. The food there is quite typically; however, the way which they present it and serve it may not be as typical. Ethiopians do not serve or scoop using utensils; instead they use flatbread to serve and eat.
Studying in Ethiopia is a feasible option for many people seeing as universities there are cheap and the options for study are various. Heading there is easy and the acceptance rate is also high so getting into any of the universities there is not competitive.
Studying at Ethiopia is an unmatched experience, the increasing awareness of Ethiopians towards education and the increased need of having well educated citizens in their community in order to raise their living conditions make it an attractive opportunity for you to go study there. By studying at Ethiopia you are going to be part of change.
Tuition in Ethiopia is one of the most affordable in the world, where an average student would be expected to pay $200 per course and is post graduate studies may reach a total of $6,000 annually. These prices are likely to increase or decrease depending on your university of choice as well as other factors.
Living conditions in Ethiopia are not suitable for all; the living conditions there are quite atrocious as there is a large percentage of the people living below the poverty line and access to sanitary water is not guaranteed. The country is a developing one and conditions are starting to develop in several fields such as education. Ethiopians are valuing education more now and 90% are students.
Due to the housing crisis in Ethiopia, you cannot expect to live in luxurious conditions and finding a rental is going to be quite tricky. Therefore, it is recommended to ensure that wherever you will study offers a mean for accommodation; whether they are housing units on or off campus. They will also help you save time as they offer dining halls for students to connect and eat at, this also means that you will not have to allocate time to prepare the food or washing the dishes.
Living in Ethiopia is relatively cheap, there are no luxurious goods to spend on and he cost of living is generally around 37% less than living the US. The country is very suitable for those heading over with a light wallet and who do not require superfluity amenities. The following prices can be seen while shopping in Ethiopia; apples are priced at $3.00 a kilogram, bananas for $0.46, tomatoes at $0.47 and a litre of milk at $0.59. Hence, your grocery necessities will not cause a drop in your budget. The one-month pass for public transportation use is valued at $7.38.
There are a number of universities in Ethiopia and the quality of education there is rising and continuing to improve. As they understand and believe that the key to a more developed country and a better future for Ethiopia lies in becoming a more educated country. Hence, the increased number of students in Ethiopia and enrolled children in schools.
The degrees and offered programs at Ethiopia are many; however, they all focus on offering agricultural courses the most as they believe that this will lead to innovations and breakthroughs in their most dominant work field. The number of enrolled students has been constantly rising and the quality of education has been constantly improving.
Addis Ababa University was founded in 1950 and is a public university. The university offers undergraduate, post graduate degrees. The university’s capacity is currently over 40,000 and they offer the following study programs; architecture, construction, business and economics, development studies, education and behavioral studies, humanities, law and governance, natural and computational sciences, performing and visual arts, social sciences and veterinary medicine and agriculture. There are eight research institutions on campus. The varied options and the number of studies along with the many facilities have made it an attractive option; they also have two teaching hospitals for practical learning.
This university is made up of six college and different specialization degrees, the university was founded back in 1983 and offers a variety of possible degrees – undergraduate and postgraduate – and is located in an urban area of the country. The university offers housing opportunities for its students and has a high admission rate to encourage applicants.
The third ranked university was established in 1986 and offers undergraduate and postgraduate studies, it is divided in into several colleges, schools and institutes, totaling 10. The university is a working research university and has over 35,000 enrolled students. The university is known for offering one of the best agriculture degrees. Agriculture is the most dominant field in Ethiopia and so studying there is ideal for students who seek a field and a guaranteed work field.
Located in the city of Bahir, which is around 550km from the capital city, and founded in 2001 is Bahir Dar University. The university is offers courses in the fields of science, medicine, agriculture and education along with seven different facilities. The university’s international placement is an important factor for the board and has a total 40 international partners. Students at Bahir university are also active member of the Ethiopian community as they harvest crops as part of their agricultural studies they are required to harvest crops.
There are other universities who are also aiming to improve and increase the number of enrolled students, they are shedding more light on the importance of research and focusing more on being specialized universities with many facilities inviting international students; such examples of these universities are Hawassa University, Haramaya University and University of Gondar. These universities follow in ranking and are named after their founded location.
The study visa in for traveling to Ethiopia is easy to obtain and the required documents are not many. Not many travellers head to Ethiopia and as a form of encouragement, the official documents and procedure are made simple.
Prepare your documents and head to the nearest official embassy office. Almost all applicants obtain an Ethiopian visa following their application form and proof of financial means are not required. It is required though that you take the following vaccines as diseases before arriving in Ethiopia; cholera, typhoid and hepatitis A.
Scholarships are not rewarded in Ethiopian universities for international students; however, because of the low tuition fees the universities there are cheaper than others even after being rewarded with a scholarship.