Adama — Adama University (AU), formerly known as Nazareth College of Technical Teachers Education, on Thursday declared that it instigates the first self-developed, campus-wide eLearning environment in the university.

The eLearning program, said the first of its kind for a higher education institution here in Ethiopia, where all of the learning materials have been developed in cooperation with the Adama eTeaching Competence Centre, lecturers and professors from the university, is also planed to be widely exported to other universities in the country.

The program is developed in cooperation between the university and Engineering Capacity Building programme (ecbp).

According to officials, there are 7 courses currently offered in the eLeaming format, with more to be added in the future.

"This is a significant accomplishment of both AU and the Engineering Capacity Building Program (ecbp), which provided the eCapacity training and support to the university staff," , Dr. Mebahtu Meles, ecbp Director said at the launching of the program held at the University premises.

"eLearning is an innovative learning style that gives students 24 hour access to interactive education material and the modern information society," he said underlining that students are less reliant on the currently overworked lecturers and professors as they can carry out their coursework on their own time.

At the launching of the program State Minister of Education and ecbp Director, Wondwossen Kiflu and university President Professor Herbert Eichele witnessed the success of this program making it bold that what it meant for Adama University and the possibilities of exporting the success to all other Ethiopian Universities.

After the accomplishment of the elearning program at AU, the program will also be implemented soon to Jimma University, Bahir Dar University and Mekele University immediately, the University president told The Daily Monitor.

"The eLearning environment makes it possible to enlarge practical experiences in topics of study. The program enhances traditional settings with blended learning concepts and provides a bridge between academic scenarios and lifelong learning scenarios.

According to experts of the newly launched program, the eLearning environment is also linked to the eLibrary system at AU whereby students and lectures can access the latest journal databases from the international scientific community as well as relevant eBooks for their subjects.

University President, Prof. Eichele on his part indicated that besides launching the elearnining program, the University has prepared sufficient computers and IT materials to the students.

"Now the University is getting well equipped with IT materials." According to Eichele, when he was assigned to be a president with the duty of implementing reformation, AU had only five PCs connected with a very slow line for nearly 6,500 students. But it currently maintained over 600 computers and it will get 300 more computers soon to fully meet the demand of its students.

In line with government policy of prioritizing the enhancement of capacity of technical vocational institutions, since 2008 the university had engaged in introducing a change management to place the ambitious process of renovating the University to meet international standards.

Ethiopian Government has shown the interest to make AU a model university for Ethiopia emphasizing economic development and university-enterprise cooperation according to the German paradigm and it is also considered to become a model university for excellence in teaching, learning and applied research.

Established in September 1993, Adama University was the first institute in Ethiopia to offer degree programs for technical teachers, according to the university.