Ethiopia's largest university inks scholarship cooperation agreement with China

Guests pose for group photos after a signing ceremony of scholarship cooperation agreement in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Nov. 3, 2023. (Photo by Misikir Temesgen/Xinhua)

ADDIS ABABA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia's largest Addis Ababa University (AAU) on Friday signed a scholarship cooperation agreement with China to boost education quality.

The Chinese government will offer some 120 scholarship opportunities for graduate and postgraduate students from the AAU during the course of a year, according to the agreement signed between representatives of the university and the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia.

"A very significant number of students will benefit from this particular agreement. It is an extraordinary program with a multitude of benefits to Addis Ababa University," Samson Mekonnen, vice president for Strategic Communication and Internationalization of AAU, told Xinhua.

The agreement is expected to contribute to AAU's recent endeavor as the East African country's first-ever autonomous public university.

Attending the signing ceremony of the agreement, Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia Zhao Zhiyuan noted that the Confucius Institute has been a presence at the AAU since 2013, providing quality Chinese language teaching services to local communities.

Besides, the Chinese embassy last year set up special scholarship opportunities at the AAU to support the students' academic and research projects, Zhao said, adding it has also encouraged student and staff exchange programs, joint research between AAU and Chinese higher education institutions, as well as cooperation between Chinese enterprises and the AAU on graduate recruitment.

"The Chinese embassy highly values cooperation with the AAU. We will support the AAU and Chinese universities in building sister relationships. We welcome teachers and students from the university to visit and study in China to accelerate communication in development and civilization," he said.

Noting the university's collaboration with the Chinese embassy and China's higher education institutions, AAU's Interim President Samuel Kifle said "the past success stories that we have had as strategic collaboration between China and Ethiopia are expanding into education and human resource development."

"Today's agreement marks a special relationship between AAU and the Chinese embassy," he said.