Abstract:
This article analyzes the stand taken by Ethiopia’s higher education institutions when providing students’
learning during the COVID-19 period while institutions are closed in order to contain the virus. These institutions
have a recent history of low research and technological advancement globally. The effects of the COVID-19are
wide ranging and endangering students’ learning. The study investigates how public universities are attempting
to deliver learning remotely in order to support students as well as exploring challenges and opportunities
following the institutions’ efforts to minimize the risks of the pandemic. The result shows that, when compared
with universities in other countries, neither the government nor the universities took concerted measures to
sustain undergraduate students learning. Undergraduate, graduate and Ph.D. learning in universities was
interrupted until May 2020 and many questioned the quality, graduate and PhD students’ learning as continued
online. The inequality between undergraduate students will be sustained and widened if this situation continues,
universities must develop and apply concerted efforts to better use remote learning. In Ethiopia, the current
pandemic challenges higher education institutions’ response to the crisis. Large sections of students have the
least technology support, without government and universities support we may create a lost generation in the
COVID-19 pandemic period. Therefore, the pandemic must be use as a turning point for Ethiopian universities to
bring long-lasting changes
