The status of teachers' collaboration in Ethiopian public universities found in the Amhara region.

Research findings on the issue of teachers' collaboration in Ethiopian higher education institutions are limited. The main objective of this study was to examine the status of teachers' collaboration in Ethiopian public universities found in the Amhara region. In addition, this study also aimed at comparing the status of teachers' collaboration among the four generations of Ethiopian public universities found in the Amhara Region. Using a convergent parallel mixed design, data were collected from teachers, department heads, and academic deans through questionnaires and interviews using a multistage stratified sampling procedure. Four universities were selected from the ten public universities after stratifying them into four categories based on generations. From the sampled universities, 250 participants were selected randomly to complete a self-administered questionnaire. In addition, 8 teachers, 4 department heads, and 4 academic deans were selected using the purposive sampling technique for the interview. The quantitative data collected through a close-ended questionnaire were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, t-test, and one-way ANOVA, and the qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Finally, the qualitative and quantitative results were blended to compare or relate to each other. The findings of this study revealed that university teachers found in the Amhara region were moderately collaborative in information sharing and informal collaborations/collegial relationships. However, teachers' collaboration in professional activities seems unsatisfactory. The result of this research also indicated that there is a significant difference across the four generations of universities. Hence, Ethiopian public universities found in the Amhara region should give adequate attention to strengthening collaboration among teachers in professional activities.

Academic collaboration in Ethiopian Higher Education Institutions: from a senior-junior staff support perspective.

This study examined the level of collaboration between senior and junior academic staff in Higher Education Institutions in the Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia. We employed a convergent parallel mixed research design and collected data from 203 teachers, four department heads, and four academic deans using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The researchers also employed frequencies, percentages, mean, standard deviations, independent sample t-test, and one-way analysis on variance to analyze and interpret the quantitative data. The qualitative data on the other hand, was analyzed thematically using reflexive thematic analysis. The results show that the collaboration between senior and junior faculty members is too weak and limited to information exchange and material-sharing practices. The study also shows that independent variables such as gender and level of qualification did not affect senior and junior staff collaboration, while age and teaching experience affected it. We recommend the concerned bodies in higher education institutions to establish a system that entertains a genuine collaborative culture between senior and junior academic staff, following an integrative approach among different groups and considering all the challenges in realizing such an effective collaboration.