Hawassa University delegation, led by Dr. Chirotaw Ayele, President of Hawassa University, made a working visit to Justus-Liebig University of Giesen, Germany between September 28- October 03, 2026.
Hawassa University was represented by Dr.Chirotaw Ayele and Prof. Tesfaye Semela, HU-JLU, DAAD- ISAP and ERASMUS+ Students & Staff Mobility Coordinator, Hawassa University.
On the other hand, The JLU Giessen team included: Prof.Dr. Karterina Lorenz, President of JLU Giesen; Prof. Dr. Ingrid Miethe, Coordinator of Student and Staff Mobility at JLU Giesen; Dr. Sabrina Lundström, Director of JLU International Office, and Ms. Dominica Schppe, Head of International office Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences.
The two sisterly institutions have a partnership spanning two decades. According to Prof. Tesfaye, since 2017, more than 100 academic staff and students have made 10 days of practical and field work along with their Hawassa University counterparts. Besides, as he added, 14 undergraduate and graduate students from JLU Giesen took a semester long coursework amounting to 30 ECTS each.
Prof. Tesfaye further mentioned that from Hawassa University side, (1) A total of 20 students of which, 6 are PhD candidates, came studied at JLU Giessen for at least one Semester. At least, a quarter of them stayed for one additional semester, (2) 6 staff members had a one week research and training stay.
During the partners meeting, the two teams discussed on the possibilities of Joint PhD program in early childhood education, development and teacher training; culture, conflict and peace research (consortium of African and Latin American countries such as Colombia); tropical diseases and malaria research; Coffee and Enset research, and strengthening existing cooperation in student and staff exchange.
