A former vice President for Research and Technology Transfer of the Addis Ababa University has been named president of the Addis Ababa University.
Tassew Weldehanna, with close ties to Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), was selected as the university’s 11th president and he will lead the university for the coming six years. Tassew was one of three finalists announced by a search committee weeks ago along with Bekele Gutema and Jeylu Umer. He succeeds Admassu Tsegaye, president since 2011, who stepped down to assume ambassadorial position.
Even though 22 individuals from different institutions have managed to enter the competition, many from the outset felt that the outcome was a foregone conclusion. The US-based the Ethiopian Satellite Television and Radio has been reporting saying that TPLF was working behind the scene to get its man elected.
Others say Tassew deserves to get the post because he has been teaching Economics in Addis Ababa University for the last 17 years and he earned his PhD from the Netherlands Wageningen University.