Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia boasts 55 universities and 300 colleges, most of which are relatively young. Nevertheless, the national higher education system is partially represented in international university ratings, particularly, in THE WUR and US News.
Presently, there is no national higher education rating system in Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, however, certain efforts are being made to set it up. The national university rating system is required, because international ratings pose high level challenges and assessment systems, therefore they are not representative for the Ethiopian higher education system and do not take into account priorities and real context, in which Ethiopian higher education exists.
According to Ethiopian Minister of Education Abulie Takele, university rating system in Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia needs to be decolonized and aimed at achieving sustainable development goals. This includes training of students who appreciate culture and traditions of their country and are able to be critical about imposed stereotypes in relation to structure of society and social systems.
At present, the Ethiopian Ministry of Education is assessing national universities internally, however, as of 2025, the system would be formalized into a national university rating. Criteria for rating assessment are compiled in keeping with similar developments in a number of other BRICS countries, in particular, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They reflect, for instance, quality and accessibility of education programs, their compliance with sustainable development goals, university social responsibility, labour market demand for university graduates, complex indicators of faculty staff scientific publications (quality and quantity), amount of patented R&D results, student academic performance and achievements, presence of foreign students and internationalization of the higher education system, amount of university available resources.