Diaspora Forum

Newsletter 8

A Visionary's Dream Come True

The contribution of Ethiopians and foreign nationals of Ethiopian origin in    overcoming the socio-economic and political challenges of the country has become significant in the course of time. In this edition of the Diaspora Forum we introduce you to a person, committed to contribute to the development of his country of origin, Ethiopia. 

His name is Matthew Gichile.  He is an American national of Ethiopian origin. He left Ethiopia in mid 1970's and before coming to Ethiopia he lived in the USA for more than 18 years. 

Ato Matthew is dedicated to expand private education institutions in Ethiopia to contribute to the capacity building efforts the country has embarked upon. New Generation University College run by the entrepreneur trains students in a number of diversified fields.           

Ato Matthew says he came to establish   New Generation five years ago. Talking about what inspired him to focus on education he said "while I was living in the USA, I traveled to several African countries. I was a consultant for the UNDP and UNIDO.            

 Towards the collapse of the Derge regime, I had a chance to come to Ethiopia. By that time the first thing I noticed was the huge demand for educated people in the country. I was disappointed with the situation I saw. Intellectually the country was really in a vacuum."   

It did not take him much time to decide what he could do to contribute to the expansion of education in his country of origin. It was his highly coveted dream 

After the demise of the Derg regime, Ato Matthew was quick to grab the favorable investment situation in the country and exchanged views with some people as to the need for higher learning institutions, especially private ones. According to Matthew, he and his colleagues were saying "we can not address the daunting social problems of this Country by providing short term trainings, and workshops alone. There must be a very strong academic programmes." So", he says "we started New Generation with big vision." 

Ato Mathew says he had to encounter some impediments at the initial stage of establishing New Generation University College.  According to him, some government offices were not efficient in providing fast and reliable services.  However, he says after some time, things have changed and there is no more foot dragging thanks to reforms the government has carried out. Now he speaks of good relation between his college and the concerned government bodies.

New Generation University-College has now two campuses, one in in Addis Ababa and the other in Nekemte. The University College gives trainings in certificate, diploma and degree programmes. The institution provides training to students including foreigners from eight countries from Europe, West and Northern Africa. Besides, according to Mathew, his institution provides special programmes like Global Studies and International Relations, which so far were not available as streams of study at other private educational institutions.  

 He is quite confident that his institution is capable of training qualified young diplomats that could be instrumental in promoting the national interest.   

Concerning his future plan, Ato Mathew says he has a vision to have a quality private higher education in the country. He says "Addis Ababa being the capital city of Africa and the seat of various international organizations we are trying to design curricula and programmes which match the interest of member of the international community." In addition Ato Gichile says now his institution is ready to start MA programmes and has a plan even to launch PHD programmes in the future. The institution is also closely working with other foreign institutions like Capital University in the USA. The collage has also made deals with various European and American academic institutions to closely work to further its academic excellence.  

Finally Ato Gichle says the Ethiopian Diaspora can play a significant role to achieving the overall development of the country.  

We have professionals, entrepreneurs, and people with diversified knowledge and experience. All these assets and resources need to be exploited to boost the on going development efforts in the country.