Welcome to Department of Educational Planning and Management (EDPM)

1.Background

Globally, the swift changes in science and technology, the development of competitive global market, the new moves toward knowledge production, knowledge transfer as well as the desire for economic growth and tdevelopment have been escalating from time to time. This in turn calls for innovative and dynamic leadership both at national and international levels. To strengthen this idea, Education Development Roadmap (2018) state that there is a need to produce  graduates having higher-order thinking skills such as critical, creative and problem-solving thinking, and a high degree of computer literacy from Universities. Among those, OBU is the first.

Oda Bultum University (OBU) is one of the public higher learning institutions in Ethiopia.It is established in November 2015 by decree No.322/2014 of the Council of Ministers of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. As public comprehensive university in Ethiopia, Oda Bultum University, is go-getting for demand based BA graduate broadening.  To achieve this objective, the college of Social Science and Humanities has established curriculum development team conducted need assessment for the launching of BA in Educational planning and management program.

Accordingly, to conduct external need assessment, West and East Hararghe Zone education offices  and their respective districts, Technical and vocational training office, administration office, and public service office and Chiro Teachers Training College were area covered in this need assessment.   Besides, the need for this program of Addis Ababa University, Kotobe Metro Politian University, Ministry of Education, Ethiopian public service commission, Oromia education Bureau, Oromia public service Bureau were summarized.

Internal need assessment, held on college of social science and Humanity, college of Natural and computational science, Human resource management directorate, and Continuing and distance Education Directorate were discussed and summarized

2.Rationale for the Program

From the need assessment results it is clearly observed that different stakeholders spoke out that there are varies vacant positions, which requires graduates with this profession. Accordingly, the Bachelor of Arts Program in Educational Planning and Management at Oda Bultum  University been launched for the following rationale drawn from the needs Assessment:

• To produce competent educational planners & managers that can handle leadership responsibilities in a decentralized system of education.
• Fill in the knowledge, skills and attitude (competency) gaps that exist among the educational managers working at various (Region, Zonal, and Woreda) educational offices and schools with different positions
• Satisfy the trained manpower needs of Regions Education Bureaus in the area of educational planning and management that enable them provide quality leadership to various levels of the system
• Link programs like school improvement (SIP), Teacher Development Programs, to be effectively& efficiently implemented and become sustainable through informed leadership development at school level.
• Increase the number and quality of trained school managers and instructional supervisors who can work focusing the school and classrooms as centers of educational change and improvement.
• The program is highly relevant to improve quality education through producing qualified leaders that enhance the teaching-learning process.
• teachers and educational experts are highly benefited from summer in EDPM profram
• Regarding demand and job opportunities, Ethiopian public service commission interviewees emphasized that, job opportunity of the program is good relative to others.
• educational goals and quality issues are highly maintained through producing school leaders, supervisors, education office experts, and even work in private schools in a leadership position on academic.
• The program is highely relevant for induction training, CPD, TDP,  HDP training, PGDT, PGDSL, research,  community service mentoring, coaching, classroom observation, staff development, distance and non formal education, curriculum evaluation, revision, modification, change…
• For establishing College of Education and Behavioral Science in Oda Bultum University, there must be departments that enhance the quality of education. Accordingly department of Educational Planning and Management is the first one. This department helps in identifying educational goals and objectives, effective distribution of scarce resources and more necessary for administrative decision making in teaching learning for the university.
• EDPM in OBU highely important for planning on transformational learning opportunities of the nearby communities and University members.
• University without Education College and related departments will certainly fail short to achieve the ultimate goals. Professional license requirements, accreditations, and continued improvement need to be part of the teacher education system. Curriculum of Educational Planning and Management is not direct copy of other university. Different modification have been made. For instance new course “Indigenous knowledge Integration, modern education and social change” was incorporated.
• More specifically. Our graduates have an accesses to work in different NGO, and government organization education sectors.
• Program of Educational Planning and Management for our University pave a way for, college of education, community service, research and publication, diagnosing indigenous knowledge and cross cultural issue.
• The 21st century teaching methods, technology transfer practicum, ICT and transformational learnings are highly revised and modified so as to make our students more self- learners’ international student.

On top of this, there is now a widely agreed upon need to make educational management and leadership professionalized, democratic, and autonomous and empowered. This is possible only through training of well-qualified school managers.The Federal Democratic republic of Ethiopia has already launched Growth & Transformation Plan (GTP) which is intended to put the country in middle income status. The GTP as well as the Education Sector Development Plan (ESDP), gives due emphasis to, quality, equity, efficiency & access of education by focusing science & technology education.  The new education road map and Ethiopian higher education strategy also focuses on relating higher education with the need of the country’s labor market.

To this effect, the program of educational planning & management is believed to contribute a lot in training qualified educational leaders at different echelons of the sector, particularly at primary and secondary schools of Ethiopia. The graduates are expected to contribute a lot in improving the quality of education through effective instructional leadership. Therefore, this revised four-year Educational Planning and Management curriculum will help to fill the gaps observed in the field and to address the very purposes of the new education road map.

3.Program Goals

The goal of the program is to produce competent educational planners and managers that can handle leadership responsibilities under the context of changing environment and decentralized educational system and to produce educational leaders and researchers who can address educational demands and challenges through critical analysis weaknesses the internal and external contexts of educational institutions. The internal context refers to the strengths and weakness an organization had while the external context deals with the politic economic, social change-oriented technological dynamics.

4. Program Aims

Moreover, the program is aimed to produce democratic, visionary, and innovative, change oriented and professionally committed educational planners and managers major competencies (e.g planning, management, leadership, monitoring, evaluation and research, technology use in management) that can hold leadership responsibilities under decentralized educational contexts.

5.Program Objectives

The specific objectives of the Bachelor of Art Degree in Educational Planning and Management is designed to produce educational planners and managers who

• Are well informed of the national and regional educational policies and laws, thereby assume leadership positions and responsibilities
• Manage and utilize educational resources effectively and efficiently
• Can initiate educational changes, innovations and developments by addressing local and regional needs and realities.
• Can mobilize and involve the local communities and thereby strengthen the school and community relationship.
• Are capable of solving educational problems by applying skills of educational research
• Can lead educational organizations towards the realization of organizational vision and mission.
• Effectively carryout instructional leadership.
• Can effectively use ICT in the planning, managing, and leading educational institutions
• Can use ICT in planning, monitoring, evaluation and research engagements
• Integrate EMIS
• Initiate human resources development and management

6. Profiles

6.1. Professional profiles

The graduates of Educational planning and management are expected acquire knowledge, skills and dispositions. Thus, the graduates will be able to:

• Understand and apply constitutional provisions, educational policies and strategies and related legislations in the management of education.
• Provide professional support (serve as supervisors) to teachers in the areas of instruction, curriculum development and professional development in order to improve the success of students.
• Apply and manage policies and guidelines relevant to human and other resources utilization.
• Undertake action and basic research to improve their professional competence and solve educational management problems.
• Assess, control and assure quality of education at varies level
• Apply best educational practices in the local context
• Develop, manage and evaluate educational plans, programs and projects.
• Initiate and manage educational innovations and changes.
• Conduct educational research & apply it to educational context
• Manage the use of ICT in educational institutions
• Use ICT in the management of educational institutions
• Responding to cross -cutting issues like gender, environment, internationalization, special needs, migration, peace, pandemics of crises
• Develop organization citizenship and commitment behaviors
• Value the quality and efficiency of change

Generally, graduates will develop professional competencies in educational/school organization and management, communication, teamwork, decision making, planning, educational leadership and research. All of which are highly valued by employers.  Because of the wide range of generic skills and the rigor with which they are taught, training in educational planning and management is widely accepted as providing an excellent preparation for a number of careers. These graduates are, therefore, qualified members of their professional community; they could serve as professional school leaders, planners, managers, researchers, education experts, consultants, decision makers, educators, and trainers in educational organization settings.

6.2. Graduate profiles

The department /program/ of educational Planning and management runs the Bachelor of Arts degree Program to produce professionals and meet the manpower needs of the education sector in the area. This program is designed to professionalize educational planners and Managers that can handle Leadership responsibilities in a decentralized system of educational organization and management as stipulated in the Education and training policy. Specifically, graduates of Educational Planning and Management program will have the following competencies:

• Understand and apply constitutional provisions, educational policies and strategies and related legislations in the management of education.

• Effectively implement educational programs (e.g., SIP, CPD, ICT, etc.) and policies introduced by the Ministry of Education.
• Apply different management tools and skills pertinent to the organizational and environmental context and ensure organizational success.
• Providing educational leadership that fits to situational and organizational realities or that enables organizations be transformed.
• Mobilize and promote higher level community participation in the management of education.
• Integrate and effectively manage technology use in education and in the management of education.
• Exercise effective instructional leadership and enhance the achievement of students.
• Provide professional support (serve as supervisors) to teachers in the areas of instruction, curriculum development and professional development in order to improve the success of students.
• Effectively and efficiently manage the physical, material, financial, information resources for successful accomplishment of organizational goals.

7.Program profiles

7.1. Staff Profile

Sn	Academic Rank	No
1.	Ass. Professor	1
2.	Lecturers	3
	Total	4

 

7.2. Resources

• There are teaching learning rooms,
• EDPM Offices, compiled documents and relevant materials, in the College of social science of Oda Bultum University.
• Four years full document by soft copis
• Hard copy of important teaching manuals, reference books were requested.
• Soft copy of teaching learning materials and handout were organized and prepared
• Desktop computer

 

 

8..Rules, regulations and requirements

a.Admission Requirements

Applicants for admission to the Bachelor’s degree program in educational planning and management must satisfy the following criteria:

• Successful completion of freshman program (general education courses) set by the university.
• Have a diploma in educational management or related teaching subjects with a minimum cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 2:00 at graduation from an accredited Teacher training institution OR
• Teaching or administrative experiences in educational organizations will be an advantage to get admission to the program.

b.Grading system

The grading policy is a criterion referenced/ fixed scale system

c.Graduation requirements

In order to graduate, a student should successfully complete all the designed courses. Moreover, the candidate is required to obtain:

2. CGPA of at least 2.00 at graduation.
3. A student should take a total of 242 ECTS/146 Cr hrs.

• No “F” grade in any course

9.Degree nomenclature

The degree conferred shall be Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Degree in Educational Planning and Management. ‘የአርት ባችለር ዲግሪበትምህርት እቅድ እና ሥራ አመራር’

10.Medium of instruction

The medium of instruction for the program is English language.

11.Duration of the Study

The program is organized to be completed in four years in the regular program

12.Total load

The graduates are expected to take 244 ECTS or 146 credit hours during their study period in order to accomplish the program.

13.Quality assurance mechanism

According to Article 4 of the 2009 Higher Education Proclamation, one of the major objectives of Ethiopian higher education is: ‘To prepare knowledgeable, skilled, and attitudinally mature graduate … so that the country shall become internationally competitive.’ In this regard, a key purpose of higher education is to produce competent, adaptable and responsible graduates who can contribute to the development of the country and transform the livelihood of Ethiopian population.

 

In order to ensure the quality of this program and graduates’ competence, thereby achieve the program objective thereby the national objective, quality assurance mechanisms will, therefore, be employed at course, module and program levels. The program will conduct formative and summative evaluation. The quality assurance process could be handled from within the department and college as well as from external quality assurance agencies. More specifically:

• There will be curriculum revision at the end of every four year
• There will be continuous follow up of the teaching learning process
• Students of the program will evaluate their instructors and the courses taken at each semester

 

• Discussion forums will also be prepared with students at the end of each year to share ideas that will help improve the program in general and its teaching learning process in particular
• It will be expected to assure and control the program quality with national quality framework standards