Where does Jijiga University want to take the minds of the people?

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On October 31, 2017, the current acting president of the occupied Somalis, the Somali Galbeed/Ogadenia, cried “so, next time you meet a civil servant with management degree from Jijiga University and you ask who Abraham Maslow was and he tells you he was a dangerous anti-peace Eretrian captured by the gallant Liyou Police, don’t get discussed,” to protest against an alleged massive academic scandal in the university which granted many never schooled civil servants to academic degrees in the fields of business and economics.To those of you who are not familiar with Abraham Maslow, he was a leading American scholar in the field of psychology in the 20th century whose works are highly practiced in the fields of psychology and industry management. One of his major contributions is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a psychological theory used for motivating humans.

With still staggering achievements, poor academic standing, higher presidency turnover, and its latest interim president fired on corruption charges, almost 2 years after the above event in 2017, in yesterday the University hosted a public lecture event. In promoting the event, brochures and banners with the speaker’s name spelled Prof. Abdihashi Ahmed and the subject name “Somalinimo and today’s conditions” were posted in the university’s Jijiga campus and even publicly broadcasted.

To respond the University's call,  students, lecturers, staff and the general public gathered in a designated hall. But unfortunately, as the event started, the university committed a serious academic scam. The hosted speaker doesn’t have the broadcasted academic credentials of professorship and never taught any accredited university. The claim that he has even a B.A is highly contested. Proving lack of warranted knowledge, though the subject of the speaker was entirely political and historical matter, the speaker failed to convey a body of knowledge about the matter. Instead, he waged a war of personal allegations and when asked questions about the subject, the speaker publicly acknowledged that he neither studied history nor politics. “I couldn’t believe see myself watching the guest speaker waging allegations on other intellectuals in absentia,” complained one intellectual participant, Fardouse Moussa.

So, if this is how the university is handling public lectures, how can one imagine any pure academic integrity happening behind the scene?

As Professor Alexander S. accurately stated, a university is “an association or corporations of scholars and teachers engaged in acquiring, communicating or advancing knowledge, pursing in a liberal spirit the various sciences which are a preparation for the profession or higher occupation of life.” But unfortunately, being already alleged granting degrees to never schooled civil servants and now preaching the messages of never awarded “professor”, Jijiga university is failing to serve the purpose of its establishment. As one studies further the university’s behavior, he or she finds it guilty of academic dishonesty. But should we simply watch the trend?




Mohamed Garad is an independent researcher who studies the social, economic and political issues of horn of Africa. 


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