With the commencement ceremony conducted at Friendship Park on July 16, 2022, Addis Ababa University (AAU) graduated 5, 058 students, 33% of them were female, in undergraduate, postgraduate, spatiality, and sub-spatiality degree levels in various programmes and fields.
H.E. Sahle Work Zewde, President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, offered the following in her speech of congratulations:
“I congratulate the graduates for achieving this day by overcoming challenges and ups and downs you encountered relating to social, educational, and occasionally political difficulties throughout your tenure in the Addis Ababa University.
For more than seven decades, Addis Ababa University has provided the nation with education, research, and community service. It is now impossible to find an Ethiopian in any organisation or home in the nation who has no connection to Addis Ababa University.
The government built other universities in the nation for a variety of objectives in the academic sector, and Addis Ababa University serves as a human resource feeder to other institutions. The government, the private as well as the service sectors, the agriculture, and other economic sectors of the nation have all benefited from its largest contribution of skilled and well-educated people resources.
Being educated is more than just receiving an A, B, or C and graduating; it also entails bringing about and taking ownership of behavioural changes in life trends of human endeavour that extend to altering the circumstances of the present.
Universities are locations where fresh, unique ideas are developed, and the people who come out of them are people who want to use their knowledge to improve their country by addressing its issues. They are free spaces where students can study while entertaining many points of view, ideas, and concepts while upholding the principles of equality, respect, and mutual benefit.
Our universities are intended to be able to raise people’s standards of living, promote cohesion, give the government policy resources, support democratic trends, and advance development and good governance.
AAU GRADUATES OVER 8,600 STUDENTS IN VARIOUS FIELDS
Although our nation has faced many difficulties over the years, those that occurred over the past four years were particularly painful and ought to never happen again. Instead of cooperating to lift our people out of poverty, many unarmed individuals have been murdered in their own country.
While people in other countries are studying some earthly phenomena, we are still killing one another over things like language, origin, nationality, and religion. We could see that several of our defenceless citizens had been brutally murdered for reasons they could not comprehend.
Being educated entails raising awareness, choosing a progressive worldview, opposing wrongdoing, getting involved in finding answers, claiming a mandate on matters pertaining to my country, and similar things. Our nation has high expectations for each of us; our citizens need to be able to work freely and safely, receive a great education, have equitable access to the market, have access to clean water, electricity, and transportation infrastructure, or have access to basic necessities generally.
Now that you have graduated, you will be working in the real world. Education doesn’t end here; it has no end and learning continues through involvement in many daily activities.
We must rid our nation of famine, war, instability, civil unrest, displaced people, and backwardness. The government has increased a variety of projects in a variety of industries. All sectors must work together to advance our nation’s growth, good governance, justice, peace, and democracy, and this is made possible by the highest level of engagement among today’s fresh graduates.
We should practise tolerance, be open to listening to one another, hold civil discussions, completely comprehend the suffering of both our nation and its people, and cooperate to overcome any obstacles. A person with education looks into ways to resolve any issues in his or her nation; they also comprehend their societies’ plights and work to help them overcome them.
The diploma you received today is a step towards establishing a link between academic and research endeavours. The government makes every effort to generate as many different types of jobs as it can in order to utilise this combination of knowledge and abilities. There are no situations in any industrialised country when all graduates receive direct employment from the government, thus our experience is not unique.
You are therefore expected to create your own jobs by working alone, in pairs, in groups, or by finding employment in the private sector. The government will assist you in this regard by giving you workspace, establishing market connectivity, supplying materials and logistics, offering general multidimensional support, and doing tighter follow-ups.
Finally, dear graduates of today, wherever you are and under whatever circumstances, love your nation, Ethiopia, as much as your parents do; be accessible whenever and wherever your country needs you; and serve your people equally.
According to reports, Addis Ababa University President Professor Tassew Weldehanna said the following:
“Dear graduates, the Addis Ababa University requests you to help the government in different areas of activities including reading, researching and deeper thinking of the world phenomena with your different areas of discipline you have been equipped trough learning. The government also requires you to serve with open hearts in service sectors where you get the opportunity to engage on. As far as you are initiated to help Ethiopia, you get not only its problems but it also has valuable treasures that will benefit you much.”
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