By Philip Buda Ladu
The Federal Republic of Ethiopia is planning to increase scholarship for South Sudanese students amid 90 being granted undergraduate scholarships to South Sudanese students within 13 different Universities across Ethiopia.
Ethiopian Ambassador to South Sudan, Nabil Mahdi told No. 1 Citizen Daily Newspaper yesterday.
The Ambassador said that 90 qualified students are already in Ethiopia pursuing their studies.
Among the student, there are 39 females and 60 male students, with 60 of them pursuing courses in Natural Sciences while the remaining 30 are majoring in Social Sciences.
Amb. Nabil said the Ethiopian government is committed to helping South Sudanese student advance their education in Ethiopian Universities, and return back to contribute towards development, security and peace of the country.
The scholarships are given based on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of 2014 signed between the Government of South Sudan and the Government of Ethiopia. Nabil noted that there is also an MoU prepared in 2017 even though it was not signed.
The Ethiopian Envoy in Juba revealed that the South Sudan Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Gabriel Changson Chang visited Ethiopia in March where he met with his counterpart, the Ethiopian Minister of Education.
He said the two Ministers agreed to amend the existing Memorandum of Understanding to provide numbers of scholarship in Natural Science than social science. The Ambassador further stated that there are scholarships’ chances for postgraduates, technical and vocational education training program.
“We are very committed in enhancing the opportunities of scholarships for South Sudanese students. In the nearest future our Ethiopian minister of education will come to Juba and we are expecting that this amended MoU will be signed in Juba soon,” Amb. Nabil stated.
Last year, one hundred and forty-five South Sudanese students were admitted to various Universities in Ethiopia on full scholarships by the Ethiopia Government. Also this year about 29 South Sudanese doctors were grant postgraduate specialty studies in Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian Envoy to South Sudan said, more than a thousand South Sudanese students have joined Ethiopian universities in the last ten years. He stressed that his government hopes to increase the number, annually even though with the range of hundreds or one hundred and fifties.
“We are planning to increase the number of scholars up to three hundred undergraduates, then postgraduates also Technical and Vocational Educational Training (TVET) programs,” Amb. Nabil noted.