Representatives of Cornell University and Bahir Dar University (BDU) in Ethiopia recently signed a memorandum of understanding to offer a Master’s of Professional Studies (MPS) degree in International Agriculture and Rural Development with a specialization in Integrated Watershed Management [see information brochure for details] at BDU. Approximately one hundred Ethiopian students took a qualifying exam in August and will be notified by mid-September of whether they are among the twenty students who will be accepted. Classes are scheduled to begin at the beginning of November, 2007.

The program will be offered entirely in Ethiopia at Bahir Dar University, but students will receive degrees from Cornell. Cornell faculty will travel to Ethiopia to offer courses in 3-week blocks with faculty from BDU. Cornell and BDU faculty will jointly supervise students’ research/development projects. The interdisciplinary program will include courses in engineering, agriculture, management and the social sciences to provide students with the skills needed to manage watersheds. Each student must complete 24 credits of course work and a research or development practicum (6 credits) to receive the MPS degree. Bahir Dar’s location on the shores of Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile in a largely agricultural area make it an ideal site for research and development projects on watershed management.

Faculty and administrators from Cornell and BDU have worked for several years to develop this degree program that was approved by the General Committee of the Graduate College last spring.

For more information contact:
- Tammo Steenhuis, Professor of Biological and Environmental Engineering
- Alice Pell, Professor of Animal Science and CIIFAD Director