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Higher Education and Economic Mobility

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Becoming Middle Class

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Abstract

This chapter explores how Ethiopia’s expansion of higher education in the past two decades has impacted young people’s opportunities to improve their financial situations. The national allocation system sends students to different parts of the country and has contributed to intensifying internal migration. Cost-sharing programmes covering fees, accommodation and meals enabled students from poor backgrounds to access higher education, but also required them to repay the scholarship costs by working for the government in designated locations. These migrations contributed to the expansion of university student networks and widened employment opportunities. This is exemplified through the case studies of Yonas and Tesfay who grew up in poverty but found well-paid employment after completing higher education. Urban-to-urban migration for higher education distinguished these people from those who did not access higher education and missed out on opportunities for such migration and subsequent employment and stable incomes.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    There is currently an ongoing war in Tigray and the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea may change through this evolving situation.

  2. 2.

    The civil war that started in November 2020 and is still ongoing at the time of writing has changed these circumstances significantly. The pharmaceutical factory and the university have been looted and most economic activities have come to a standstill.

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  1. Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

    Markus Roos Breines

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Breines, M.R. (2021). Higher Education and Economic Mobility. In: Becoming Middle Class. Globalization, Urbanization and Development in Africa . Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3537-3_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3537-3_3

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