1. Major Rationales Of The Program

The major rationales for launching Civics and Ethical Studies program are the following.

1. Global Level

Now a day there is a need to have citizens with the knowledge of the present highly globalized world, so as to withstand with the challenges and the fast changing developments on global level.

Globalization evolves into world scale operations affecting negatively or positively all citizens of the world indiscriminately regardless of level of development, geographic location or political orientations. This global phenomenon manifests itself into four mega trends: increased interdependence, regionalization, nationalism and democratization.

These trends strongly call particularly for citizens of the developing world to cautiously adapt themselves and build their capacity to critically study the unfolding effects thereof. These attitudinal changes in the behaviors of citizens in the developing world should finally help them to cultivate global understanding and remarkable competitive skills, they will definite meet these changes they develop the highest sense of civics responsibilities and ethical standards.

1. Regional Level

We, Ethiopians, as part of the East African region and the citizenry of the entire Africa continent, are also witnessing drastically new continental and regional developments of remarkable complexity and intensity directly affecting on country in particular and all countries, there in, in general, one can overtone the following major trends as vivid examples.

Co-operation

 Provides one major trend where Ethiopia and its citizens are extremely required to work out and adapt on a large scale, new, suitable and timely approaches. Our country’s role in the newly arrange African Union are so crucial that they require its government and its citizens to redefine their contributions a new Ethiopia is also an active member with an ever expanding influence to regional organs like common market for central and South African states, as well as inter-governmental association for development.

Ethiopia furnishes the seat for the head quarter of AU, ECA and several other regional organizations.  In the immediate future, on country will search for new regional and continental venues as destination for its citizens to be aware of this unfolding trending of high political, socio – economic and cultural significance.

Co-operation, both on functional strategies and structural visions, is therefore, the emerging national project requiring a large degree of consensus among Ethiopian citizens guided by a remarkable sense of civics and ethical responsibilities.

Conflict Management and Resolution

Despite Ethiopia’s commitment and determination for productive and effective co-operation and integration at continental and regional levels, the peculiar nature of historical, geographic, economic and political relations in the region crops up multifarious and persistent conflicts.  Some of these conflicts have been issues of top general security concerns whose management and solutions strongly need total, persistent and active citizen participation.

Conflicts in the region by their origin, cause factors, extent and depth can be brief or persistent and long or permanent and destructive or outside in or inside out by their directions.

As conflicts poise gross impediments, their management and resolution should best be organized and guided by highly scientific, systematized and rationalized approaches from generation to generation.  Equally important are commitments, loyalties, integrities, competencies and diligences of citizens survived by a qualified Civics and Ethical Studies at universities and for all students.

Students of the present and future generation are to be moulded as peace – loving, cooperation opting and conflict managing citizens so that our country glows to be a beneficiary of an established regional peace culture.

Interdependence

Interdependence is one of the major hallmarks characterizing international relations at present.  Ethiopia is not an exemption to this current arena of international relations. Ethiopia, however, as all other developing countries enters the era of this global interdependence with extremely weakened bargaining power, poor selecting and sifting mechanisms and poor national capacity of reversing undesired influences.

So having the program of Civics and Ethical Studies in high education system is quite important for systematic socializing program that could train and nurture its citizens to guarantee themselves against the dangerous effects of cultural imperialism.   

• National Level

Ethiopia has now been experiencing since 1991 a profound socio – cultural, economic and political transformations, across the country, drastically new patterns of social relations and values systems are rapidly taking shape.  Entirely new ways of viewing the overall environment is introduced into the Ethiopian tradition by various controlled and uncontrolled means of communication.

Among others, the rapid expansion in education is beginning to affect the whole citizens of the country, by introducing and expanding secular, rational and scientific thinking.

One can list, form among the vast rubrics, the following values transformations:

• Anti-poverty, diligence, group – work, self – employment, micro – enterprise development, free competition, saving, investment, entrepreneurship and other values.
• Values of civics participation like elections, self – administration, decentralization, peaceful competition, multipartism, representative democracy, conflict management, depoliticized civil service, etc.
• Socio – cultural values like unity in diversity, linguistic, religious, ethno – cultural and gender equalities, anti- corruptions’ ethical standards, the right to self – determination up to succession, agriculture industrialization, rural life, urban quality of life information and communications.
• Common values like an independent age old Ethiopian state, national symbols, i.e., flag, emblem and anthem, constitutionalism etc.

• Mission of the Department

Civics and ethical studies Department has the following missions:

• Enhancing the capacity of students in the field of civics and ethical studies.
• Unify the mind setup of students through civic virtues.
• the ethical values of the community.
• Inspire the community to be engaged in various developmental endeavors of its specific area in particular and in the country in general.
• Play pivotal rolein Strengthen the developmental relationships between the university and the community.
• Promote the overall activities of the country.
  • Visions of the Department
• Create significant professionals.
• Build a community with sagacity of patriotism.
• Create participatory society for its development.
• Create central school of professional competency which show or create a difference.
• Promote Ethiopian traditional and modern thoughts to the world.
  • About the Department

The Department of civics and ethical studies has been established at a department level on September 2012 with 12 permanent staff members. Since then the department has had tried to launch different seminar and other events unfortunately none of them succeed. Currently the department enrolled about 320 regular students and made necessary preparations to enroll additional 100 students.

The program will provide deep insight and knowledge about civics, ethical values and social and legal frameworks. In addition the program includes among others, moral philosophy, political philosophy, international organizations, human rights, governance, democracy, introduction to philosophy etc.

Elective courses include English, Civic and Ethical Studies, Logic, Psychology, Sociology, Information Technology, with a special relationship between the fields of study as well as practical application.

1. Objectives
   • General Objectives

To provide the widest needs of the national market with graduates who have a good knowledge and competence in the vast area of Civics and Ethical Studies; who have developed a remarkable degree of civic capacity and moral standards so that they could play an exemplary role to the society

• Specific Objectives

• To supply competent professionals of civics and ethical studiesfor public undertakings, private sectors, NGOs, etc;
• To furnish knowledgeable experts for Para-institutional activities like elections, national campaigns, international relations and conflict resolution task – forces, police, justice offices etc.
• To provide competent professionals for different actors at national, regional and international level in influencing the process of democratization, securing national interests and economic development
• To produce graduates with the knowledge of industriousness, self-reliance, the pursuit of knowledge, saving and community participation
• To produce graduates who have the courage to fight against social evils in the community like corruption, harmful cultural practices, social discrimination, human rights violations etc

2. Profiles of the graduates

A graduate of Civics and Ethical Studies Department is expected to be able to:

• Public service rendering, personnel and resource administration professionals;
• Public relations, external relations, and publicity professionals & planners of public, private and NGO associations;
• Private service sector professionals, organizers of cooperative and associations, business process and staff organization professionals;
• Professionals in duties of public sectors like anti-corruption, Women’s Affair Offices, offices of labor and social affairs, micro–enterprise associations, and self-help and self-employment organization;
• Advisors, managers and heads at civic issues and undertakings in organizations like general and regional public elections, civics education organizers and educators, etc.
• Professional in civil service reforms, particularly developers of ethical principles and standards, civic duties, citizens’ manuals, etc.
• Professional inspectors and supervisors on issues of human, civil, political as well as socio – cultural rights like those of children, women, the disabled, minorities, etc.
• Trainers, educators and promoters of human rights, environmental protection, indigenous culture, historical and natural heritages etc.
• Social–work professionals on national and international levels, managing humanitarian crises, like mass refugee problems, resettlement, rehabilitation, etc.
• Professional experts in conflict management and resolution at individual, group, national, regional, and international level with expertise knowledge of causes of conflicts.
• Futures think–thanks, advisors, grievance analysts, idea providers, etc, at national, regional, district and city level law making councils; executive bodies and the judiciary.
• Teaching professionals and researchers in civic issues and undertakings;

1. Admission requirements

Entry to the Bachelor of Arts in Civics and Ethical Studies is allowed students who successfully completed their preparatory education in the field of social sciences are generally eligible to be admitted to the department’s or program’s regular and continuing education programs. The University shall set different entry requirements for enrollment in the continuing education programs.

1. Regular Degree
   1. Directly from (preparatory program) who successfully passed the entrance exam according to the MOE criteria with social science background.
   2. Social science background preferable but not mandatory
2. Summer, Extension, and Distance Degree
   1. Students who have diploma (12+2) with social science field, students who successfully passed the minimum requirement in that specific year, with social science background, and who meet the specific criteria set by the department of the respective institutions;
   2. Students who have diploma (12+2) in non social science disciplines but who have taught Civic and Ethical Education at different levels for more than 2 years;

• Students who have diploma with the new program (10+3) as determined by the decision of the MOE and, Readmission as per university legislation

1. Graduation requirements

• Degree (BA)
• 181 ECTS
• A minimum CGPA and major GPA OF 2.00
• No “F” received in any module
• Degree nomenclature (both in Amharic and English)
• የአርትባችለርዲግሪ በስነ-ዜጋና ስነ-ምግባር ጥናት::
• The Degree of Bachelor of Arts in civics and ethical studies.