Organsiation of Research and Technology Transfer at AAU

The recent reorganization of Addis Ababa University has revised both its structural set-up and its governance system. Research has been integrated with technology transfer and upgraded in the organizational structure to be visible at the highest level in parallel with the teaching-learning process. The following constitue the major organizational bodies as regards management and decision making in research and technology transfer.

The AAU Senate

The Senate of Addis Ababa University is the highest body responsible for assessing and monitoring its academic and research programmes to ascertain that they operate in accordance with the AAU Senate Legislation and the law of the country. The Senate approves research policies, academic and research programmes, and other activities of the University. The structure that takes the AAU to preeminence as a resarch university is already in place qas the following description shows.

The Management Committee

There is a University Management Committee whose primary administrative function is to recommend new policies and review existing principles, policies, and regulations of university-wide significance. The Committee may also serve as an advisory body to the AAU President on a wide range of issues pertaining to the formulation of policy and broader objectives. The President may seek advice on matters regarding the long-range planning for faculty development, design of academic programmes; creation of research programmes; strategic planning of financial and other resources as well as student affairs and personnel policies.

The Research Council

The Research Council is one of the standing Councils of the Senate. It is formed by the Senate itself to formulate research policies, their implementation guides and monitor their realization. This committee is also responsible for overseeing the operations of the AAU Research and Tehnology Transfer Office.

Administrative Constituents

The Office of Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer (VPRTT) makes sure that AAU operates in line with the regulations and guidelines of the central federal government regarding research activities in the country. In addition, the Office is entrusted with the responsibility to assess current policies and their implementation, and recommend new policies according to the provisions in the University Senate Legislation (2007). The VPRTT is assisted by the Research Director and three associate research officers responsible for coordinating thematic, small grants and collaborative research activities in the humanities and social sciences, basic sciences and professional studies. Each Research Unit reports to the Office of the VPRRTT and the latter to the President on matters related to the compliance of the University with relevant policies and regulations at the federal level.

Research Unit

A research unit is the primary unit that is a responsible functional AAU unit of any size that initiates, coordinates and undertakes research (disciplinary, multi-disciplinary, interdisciplinary and/or thematic) processes to completion and gives feedbacks on new research ideas initiations and subsequent research process improvements by involving students, faculty members, end users and stakeholders. RUs seize to exist as research activities come to completion and new ones sprout with new thematic researches.

Research units are organized at academic departments, division, college or University-wide where research ideas are generated and developed into research concepts, proposals and projects, and the actual translation of research ideas into experimentation take place. Ideas generated, concepts developed and proposals approved are documented in the databank of the research units. Findings and knowledge emanating from the research undertakings are disseminated through appropriate channels or patented or incubated for transfer of technology. The research units make continuous follow-up of the disseminated research outcomes with the purpose of improving its future research activities.