Brief overview
Official Name: History and Heritage Management
The Department of History and Heritage Management, formerly Department of History, was established as one of the departments in the Faculty of Education, Jimma University/JU in 2002/03 academic year. However, offering history as a common course preceded 2002/2003. For so long, probably, with the beginning of higher institutions in Ethiopia, Survey of the History of Ethiopia and the Horn (Hist.101/102) had been offered. Thus, history department was born out of unit of a common course at Basic, Natural and Social Sciences Department in main campus of JU. After it became a department, it soon started offering regular, summer and extension programs awarding diplomas and degrees. Since then, it has been working hard to meet the national demand for teachers of history particularly for secondary schools. In fact, some graduates have also joined institutions of higher learning.
Up to 2008 the teacher training program was offering courses based on Ethiopian Educational and Training Policy in general and the national educational development program known as Teacher Education System Overhaul (TESO) in particular. The Bachelor of Education Degree in History, which was a three years long program for the regular students and four years to the summer in service students, was producing history teachers and educators who have knowledge in their major and minor areas as well as pedagogical skills of teaching. The first TESO curriculum was good in the sense that it gave strong emphasis to professional courses of teaching including practicum courses. As curricula are not sacred religious documents, they should be revisited to make them up-to-date and relevant to dynamic and ever growing needs of the society. Therefore, as part of its endeavours to improve quality of teacher education in history the department has made revisions on the original TESO document. The first revision on the aforementioned curriculum was made in 2005/06 academic year and it helped to improve the subject matter knowledge of the students involved in the program. This curriculum was designed to improve the quality of the teacher training by incorporating new additional courses particularly in major areas so as to produce history teachers who have a good mastery of the subject matter of history as well as skill of teaching. The interplay of a number of justifications is guarantying the department to commence the new curriculum as of 2008. Distance degree program was also started with provisions of Ministry of Education in general and Higher Education Relevance and Quality Agency (HERQA) rule and regulations in particular.
Out of the above programs evolved an MA regular program in 2010. Post-Graduate MA Program also started Summer Program in two years time in 2012. The summer program is actually of two types: Government sponsored nationally organized program to upgrade preparatory school teachers and the one launched by the University in 2012, following the Regular Curriculum. The PhD program was also launched in 2017/2018.
Vision
The highly inspired vision of the department is producing competent, critical, scientifically equipped and epistemologically enriched trainees to significantly contribute in sound development endeavors at societal, national and international arenas.
Mission
The department’s mission is offering education that emphasizes on the pursuit of knowledge through instruction, research and development promoting critical thinking, understanding of social realities and reacting to problems or dealing with national and international issues.
Objectives
The main objectives of the department are to:
• produce professionals with clear world view and ability to relate their profession with local, regional, national and international dynamics and create polymath candidates who can give a good knowledge of history for the benefit of posterity;
• produce professionals who are well versed in various aspects of the past (environmental, political, economic, social and ethnographic intricacies);
• create skilled personnel and professionals who carry out research in the political, economic, social and cultural history;
• train full-fledged researchers committed to the discipline of history and heritage management to tackle the problem of the society using the potentials and possibilities embedded in the profession;
• produce scholars with tradition of tolerance towards ethnic and cultural diversity.
Strategic Directions: creating strong link with the surrounding community
Services: teaching-learning research and community services
External Links
- Collaboration overview and priorities: staff and post graduate students exchange with West Bohemia University
- Business Relationships
- Community
- Research Partners
- Governmental Organizations etc
Department Overview
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