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Ministry of Education

Identified Competency Focus Areas and Core Courses

for Ethiopian Higher Education Institutions’ Exit
Examination
Program: BA in Social Anthropology

Prepared By:

Gubaye Assaye (PhD candidate), Bahir Dar University

Yehualashet Muluneh (PhD Candidate), Addis Ababa University
Abdissa Ayana (PhD candidate), Jimma University
1.

December, 2022
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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Contents Pages
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1
2. .Expected Profiles of Graduates……………………………..………………………………...2
3. Competences and Learning Outcomes...................................................................................... 3
3.1.Competences ......................................................................................................................... 4
3.2.Learning Outcomes ............................................................................................................... 6
4. Categorizing Courses of the Program into Themes …………………………………….6
5. Courses to be included in the exam in different thematic areas .................................................. 7
6. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 8

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1. Introduction
Social anthropology is a discipline through which we seek to understand human nature and the
broad implications of social interaction. Anthropologists study societies using a scientific
approach to gather firsthand information with a humanistic interest in their cultures and customs,
which ultimately leads to a greater appreciation and acceptance of the diversity in human
societies.

Social Anthropology is an exciting field of study that integrates diverse approaches to

investigating the origins of humans, the practice of cultures in multiple settings, the adaptation
mechanisms of different societies within diverse ecologies, the construction of gender in global
societies, and the influence it has on power relationships, cultural practices, and other social
issues.

As a science, social anthropology has its own distinctive research methods involving fieldwork
and the comparative method, which takes the form of participant observation and cross-cultural
analysis. Practitioners of anthropology would be, therefore, objective social servants in various
capacities within governmental and non-governmental organizations.

Nowadays, our country, Ethiopia, encounters diverse and multifaceted socio-economic and
political issues that need the attention of in-depth anthropological inquiries to document,
understand, and scientifically explore them. In this regard, the discipline of social anthropology
has holistic, relativistic, and comparativistic features that are indispensable to exploring,
documenting, and analyzing the cultures of indigenous societies in our country. It also helps
investigate the indigenous knowledge systems of the country that have socio-economic, cultural,
and political dimensions.

This competency-based document is intended to identify expected graduate profiles, core

competencies, and learning outcomes that are prerequisites for graduation and employment for
undergraduate social anthropology students.

Moreover, there should be an intervention strategy to evaluate whether graduates have attained
the required competencies with the desired knowledge, skill, and attitude through a
comprehensive assessment of their learning. Implementing an exit exam as an intervention

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strategy is one of the best ways to check whether students achieved the desired level of
competency and learning outcome with relevant knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Hence,
competence-based comprehensive examinations are conducted upon the completion of the
graduate program.

In this regard, the Ministry of Education (hereafter MoE) has been working on a strategy to
implement national exit examinations for undergraduate programs beginning with the 2015 EC
(2022–23 G.C ).

 Objectives of the Exit Exam

The Main Objectives of Exit Examination are as follows:

 To ensure students’ achievement and improve the quality of education;

 To improve the relevance of academic programs and institutional performance;
 To assess whether higher education graduates attain the graduate profile or not
 To produce skilled and competent manpower for local, national, and international
markets;
 To ensure that graduates achieve the required learning outcomes and hence meet the
graduate profile of the curriculum;
 To provide a platform as a quality monitoring tool in the form of certification of
competence for employment;

 Significance of the Document

It is important to set competency areas for the subject matter (program) in order to measure how
much graduates have acquired in terms of skills, knowledge, and attitudes. The following shows
us the significance of setting competencies and identifying selected courses in the program:
 To set competencies that helps to assess the basic skills, knowledge and attitude of
graduating students,
 To systematically identify the core courses which will be included the exit exam, and
 To realize standardization of higher education programs and to be able to meet minimum
quality standards across all programs.

2. Expected Profiles of Graduates

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The graduates of Social Anthropology BA program are expected to undertake the following:

 Undertake independent and comparative researches in multicultural settings and make

critical evaluation of research findings;
 Able to use various anthropological theories to analyze and explain the workings of
human society and social realities in general and Ethiopian society in particular.
 Able to empathically understand diverse human societies in terms of their own cultures
and conduct research practices that is free from ethnocentrism.
 Appreciate peaceful co-existence among various socio-cultural groups.
 Be able to promote active participation and effective teamwork in solving societal
problems while maintaining appropriate professional and ethical standards.
 Identify different Anthropological perspectives, and assess and apply Anthropological
frameworks to socio-cultural realities;
 Independently frame and execute research projects, and critically evaluate research
findings; and effectively participate in multidisciplinary research projects that require
teamwork, by promoting an understanding of diverse cultures and perspectives and also
actively involving in any team works;
 Establish links between Anthropological analysis and public policy on different
administrative and decision-making levels, including the local, regional, federal and
global;
 Advocate on behalf of disadvantaged groups, including pastoralists, ethnic minorities,
the dislocated, famine victims, women, children, etc., who require a culture sensitive and
compassionate understanding to their causes;
 Work efficiently and effectively in positions like socioeconomic planning, rural and
urban development, health and culture office, teaching, etc., where Anthropological
perspectives and methods are in high demand.
 Able to provide professional and intellectual advices and consultations along the
continuum of needy stakeholders.
 Able to evict desirable and aspired social changes in the current globalized and dynamic
social world.

3. Competences and Learning Outcomes

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3.1. Competences
The social anthropology program has the general objective of producing competent
human power knowledgeable about society and culture. It helps the graduates develop the
capacity to understand, cooperate, and communicate effectively with diverse people from
diverse cultural, political, and socio-economic backgrounds. Graduates also value
diversity, conduct self-assessment, manage the dynamics of difference, acquire and
institutionalize cultural knowledge, and adapt to diversity and the cultural contexts of the
communities they serve. Accordingly, they become aware of one's own cultural
worldview, attitude towards cultural differences, knowledge of different cultural practices
and worldviews, and cross-cultural skills. In this aspect, they are able to engage in
practices that concern society while adhering to professional ethics, particularly in the
cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skill), and affective (attitude) domains of
competence.

 Knowledge (Cognitive) Competencies

In terms of the knowledge competence; graduate students of the program should beable to;
 Recognize and examine the role that anthropology plays in understanding humans from a
global viewpoint;
 Understand the cultural and biological diversity of humanity and unity in diversity across
the world and in Ethiopia to promote it in the future.
 Develop anthropological knowledge on the causes of cultural change across time and
space in societies in order to handle recurring dynamics accordingly;
 Compare and contrast classical and contemporary anthropological theories/perspectives
and examining their limitations and strengths by applying them practically in the
intellectual world and related stakeholders;
 Analyze and solve ethnocentrism problems against the backdrop of cultural relativism in
order to appreciate the differences in the communities they serve and live with

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 Know the socially constructed nature of identities, ethnicity, gender, race, and sexuality
to formulate policies and strategies in order to accommodate differences.
 Explore and understand the various peoples and cultures of Ethiopia;
 Understand the social, cultural, political, religious, and economic lives of different ethno
linguistic and cultural groups in Ethiopia;
 Grasp the relevance of social organizations and relationships for the day-to-day lives of
human societies;
 Know the issue of gender from cross-cultural and development perspectives.
 Understand various forms of marginalization in society and devise solutions to address
them;
 Appreciate the customary systems of governance and conflict resolution mechanisms of
the various peoples of Ethiopia to preserve and use them in the future;
 Understand basic concepts and various theoretical perspectives in economic, social, and
political underpinnings;
 Understand the anthropological views of development, trends, and development
interventions, and the post-development agendas;
 Know about the values, norms, and cultural practices that maintain society together;
 Understand the relationship between the human population and its surrounding
environment to maintain mutual coexistence.

 Skill (Psychomotor) Competencies

 In research activities, use major quantitative and qualitative data collection tools.
 Develop broader views and skills to deal with people from a wide variety of
socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.
 Develop skills to overcome different forms of marginalization in the day-to-day life of
society.
 Devise the mechanism of classifying the political systems and their typology in various
societies;
 Critically evaluate the application of anthropological knowledge, skills, and theories in
development concepts and practices;
 Analyze the effects of applying anthropological knowledge, methods, and approaches on
the social, economic, cultural, and political spheres.
 Know anthropological methods for the assessment of cultural values in heritage
conservation and techniques for conserving cultural heritage.

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 Attitude (Affective) Competencies

 Develop clear picture about the concepts, values, and functions of the religious and
secular philosophies with respective society.
 Appreciate, accept and respect diverse cultural practices devised by different human
societies;
 Recognize the culture area of Ethiopian peoples and the forms of interaction they
developed over time among them.
 Appreciate the indigenous conflict resolution mechanisms in multi-cultural societies of
Ethiopia;

3.2. Learning Outcomes

The university's social anthropology program has the broad goal of producing competent social
anthropologists who are well-versed in the discipline's knowledge, skills, theories, methods, and
approaches, and who will play a role in governmental and non-governmental organizations
working to alleviate Ethiopians' problems. In accordance with this, after completing this
program, students will be able to: Integrate anthropological theories and practices and undertake
original and comparative anthropological research;

 Take up the roles of managers and administrators in the various governmental and non-
governmental agencies in the fields of cultural heritage resource management, tourism,
research institutes, youth and culture organizations, community-based associations, etc.
 Investigate the multi-faceted dimensions of the ways and lives of the people;
 Participate in the national socio-cultural, environmental, political, economic, and other
policy debates, collaborating with local, regional, national, and international perspectives
and agencies;
 Participate in the country's local, regional, and national development efforts by providing
community services and trainings;
 Participate in collaborative research involving multiple disciplines and
 Build strong professional relationships with others in order to collaboratively solve
various social and economic problems in society.

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4. Categorizing Courses of the Program into Themes

The graduates’ competencies and learning outcomes of the Social Anthropology program are
assessed with the following three major thematic areas.
1. Theories and Research
2. Fundamentals of Social Anthropology
3. Development and contemporary issues: An Application of Anthropological Knowledge

5. Courses to be included in the exam in different thematic areas

The National Exit Examination in Social Anthropology for undergraduate students’ competency
has three themes. These are theories and research methods, the fundamentals of anthropology,
and development, and contemporary social issues; An Application of Anthropological
Knowledge. Theories and research methods include theories in anthropology, qualitative
research methods, and ethnographic analysis. The fundamentals of the social anthropology theme
consist of the anthropology of religion, Introduction to Social Anthropology, political
anthropology, and the anthropology of gender. The development and contemporary issues theme
comprises humanitarianism from an anthropological perspective; urban anthropology; culture,
tourism, and globalization; indigenous knowledge systems, medical anthropology and global
health; project design and organizational management; development anthropology; and
migration, transnationalism, and globalization. Accordingly, for national exit examination
documentation, the themes in the social anthropology program can be generalized as shown in
the table here below.

Themes Selected Courses Course Codes ECTS/Cr.

Theories and Research Anthropological Theories (SoAn2021 &2022) 10/6

Methods
Research Methods SoAn(2031 &SoAn 2032) 10/6

Fundamentals of Social Anthropology of Religion SoAn2041 5/3

Anthropology
Political Anthropology SoAn3071 5/3

Anthropology of Gender SoAn2043 5/3

Introduction to Social Anthropology 5/3

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Development and Humanitarianism in Anthropological SoAn4104 5/3

contemporary issues: An Perspective
Application of Indigenous knowledge systems SoAn4111 5/3
Anthropological
Urban Anthropology SoAn3061 5/3
Knowledge
Anthropology of Tourism SoAn4091 5/3

Medical Anthropology and Global Health SoAn4113 5/3

Project Design and Organizational Management SoAn4114 5/3

Development Anthropology SoAn3081 5/3

Migration, Transnationalism, and Globalization SoAn4101 5/3

Total 14 Courses 80/48

6. Conclusion
Social anthropology is a first approach to the comparative study of human social and cultural
variability. It is the study of human beings as social organisms, interacting with each other in
their environment. It can be seen as the study of human society, behavior, and interactions with
each other as well as with the material world. In this respect, social anthropology mainly focuses
on humanity by giving special attention to creating and producing professionals who are well
trained regarding the understanding of various anthropological knowledge, theories, and research
methods and approaches so as to implement them in practice to solve social problems.

It covers anthropological perspectives on diversity and unity as an emerging discipline. Through

ethnographic case studies, it illustrates cultural variations that indicate contrasts and similarities
with the students' own cultural context. For these reasons, social anthropologists seek to
understand how people live in societies and how they make their lives meaningful.

In accordance with the harmonized curriculum, national exit exam preparation becomes critical
to improving the quality of graduate students in the program and encouraging their active
participation in multi-sectorial development activities of the country in particular and the entire
world in general. Hence, this document has been prepared for the exit exam to be given for

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graduate students of the B.A. degree program in Social Anthropology to enable them to acquire
core competencies of knowledge, skill, and attitude and to achieve learning outcomes for the
selected courses. Fourteen courses have been selected from many subspecialties of social
anthropology in terms of their theme categories.

Generally, the basic aim of the national exit examination is to produce high-level and qualified
professionals in social anthropology that will benefit the country’s sustainable socio-cultural
development. The national exit examination offers a comprehensive basis for graduates’ careers
and further research endeavors in social anthropology on the identified themes. Graduates of
social anthropology will have a solid understanding of anthropology's fundamentals, theories,
research methods, and current social issues, allowing them to present various research findings to
the state and provide consulting services to society, which will benefit the country's development
efforts. And also, academia, students, and concerned higher officials are expected to be
responsible for the success of the National Exit Examination.

Validators

Solomon Debebe (MA), Dilla University

BedemariamWoldeyesus (MA), Wollo University

Santime Sagaye (MA), Wolaita Soddo University