Alumni Reception at the Austrian Embassy in Ethiopia

At the end of March, the Austrian Ambassador Dr. Simone Knapp hosted a reception for Ethiopian alumni of Austrian universities as well as for representatives of Ethiopian universities who are interested in cooperating with Austrian higher education institutions.

In her welcoming speech, Ambassador Dr. Simone Knapp expressed her delight at the significant number of attendees and highlighted alumni as important links in the scientific cooperation between Ethiopia and Austria. These existing connections should be maintained and deepened. Subsequently, Julia Lichtkoppler from OeAD shared information on cooperation opportunities between Austrian and Ethiopian universities, in particular on APPEAR and Africa-UniNet. At present, the 11^th and final call of the current APPEAR programme phase is open for submission until 31 May 2024. Africa-UniNet, the Austrian-African Research Network, represents a strategic platform for increased networking as well as for establishing new contacts. Ethiopian universities are furthermore eligible to participate in the programme CDR-Cooperation Development Research.

Ethiopian scholars, alumni and institutions have been strong partners in all of these programmes.

As of March 2024…

6 Ethiopian universities are member institutions of Africa-UniNet.
They have been involved in 16 Africa-UniNet projects.
Within the CDR programme 6 projects are implemented with partners in Ethiopia.

As far as APPEAR is concerned…

Since 2010 APPEAR has had more than 80 Ethiopian scholars in the programme, of which about 70 have completed their studies.
Ethiopian universities are also partner institutions in 3 current APPEAR projects and 10 completed APPEAR projects.

These are substantial numbers that show the commitment of Ethiopian and Austrian researchers alike to work with each other and to build and maintain sustainable cooperation. Many of these partnerships are facilitated and strengthened by alumni, who act as important mediators and multipliers.

It was great to see so many alumni again and to talk to them over drinks and food and discuss further collaborations. Thank you very much for coming! A big thank you also goes to Ambassador Dr. Simone Knapp for hosting the reception and for her continued support.

APPEAR is financed by the Austrian Development Cooperation.