The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia on Tuesday announced an increase in the number of scholarships for South Sudanese students in Ethiopian universities to 210.
This development follows a visit by the Minister of Education of Ethiopia to South Sudan, where they signed the Education Cooperation Agreement.
Previously, Ethiopia provided 100 scholarships for both postgraduate and undergraduate and 60 for Technical Education and Vocational Training (TVET).
In the new agreement, the number of undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships for South Sudanese students was increased to 150 while they maintained the 60 slots for TVET.
Addressing journalists after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, Gabriel Changson Chang, South Sudan’s Higher Education Minister said the agreement will also provide for research exchange programs between South Sudanese universities and the Ethiopian Universities.
“Exchange programs between the universities’ teaching staff and also the students and they will also engage in joint researches intended to solve the problems of the two countries in terms of health issues, in terms of economics, in terms of other technical aspects of improving our industrial base and performance in various fields,” Changson said.
On his part, Berhanu Nega, Ethiopia’s education minister said both countries have have gone through tough times and need to focus on education for a better future.
“As countries living in this neighborhood, we have been troubled for long time, it is time to start cooperating rather than fighting. It is time to develop our societies, it is time to educate our children properly so that they can have a better future,” Nega said. “Ethiopia is now embarking on evaluation of its education cooperation programs with its neighboring countries where they can have a larger broader policy, broader engagement with not only South Sudan but with other neighbors with an interest of achieving peace and understanding between our peoples.”