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28 October 2020 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied
Prof Edilegnaw Wale Zegeye, who has joined the UFS Department of Agricultural Economics, believes university education is not just a requirement for learners to receive a certificate; it is a means to change their character, capacity, and reasoning.

Edilegnaw Wale Zegeye joined the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of the Free State (UFS) as Professor of Agricultural Development Economics and Policy on 1 October 2020.

True to his belief that life is like riding a bicycle – to keep your balance, you must keep moving (Albert Einstein) – Prof Zegeye is not planning to wait for life to happen. He says that he is looking forward to engaging with his colleagues in the department regarding new challenges in the areas of teaching, research, and community engagement.

Teaching and learning

Prof Zegeye believes COVID-19 has made it necessary to come up with new ways and means of realising effective teaching and learning. He is convinced that even though online teaching has suddenly become the norm, many universities, including the UFS, will in future have to adopt some form of a hybrid, merging online with contact classes. 

“Given the uncharted territories we have to navigate, I foresee operational and content-related challenges in this area,” he says. 

These challenges, he believes, will require disrupting the status quo courageously, without neglecting the implications for teaching and learning outcomes.

Prof Zegeye is of the opinion that university education is not just a requirement for learners to receive a certificate. “It is a means to change their character, capacity, and reasoning. It is not about learning facts but enabling learners to think critically.”

His goal for his students is to enable them to master the subject matter content, not just memorise lecture notes to pass examinations. “Students should not expect everything from us, as teaching and learning is a two-way process. It is not a transfer of knowledge from a lecturer to students,” he says.

According to Prof Zegeye, success in teaching and learning is the outcome of the collective engagement of the lecturer, students, and the subject matter. He believes that was why Benjamin Franklin once said: “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”

Research

“In relation to research, the biggest challenge I anticipate is in terms of linking evidence-based knowledge with policy, implementation, and impact on the ground.”

He says the biggest challenge was to ensure that the knowledge generated is taken up by the relevant organisations and authorities in order to address the development-policy problem being examined. “This would, among other things, call for fixing the knowledge-action gap, addressing conflicts of interest, and engaging all the relevant stakeholders along, what I would call, the Research-Knowledge-Policy-Impact Nexus,” says Prof Zegeye. 

Prof Zegeye has more than twenty years of experience with higher education institutions, including the positions of Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor, Professor, and Honorary Professor (current appointment) in Agricultural Economics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). 

Although he spent several years at UKZN, he started his academic career at Alemaya University in Ethiopia. It was also at this university that he received a BSc in Agricultural Economics. He continued with his studies and obtained a master’s degree in Agricultural Development Economics from Wageningen University (the Netherlands), and later a doctoral degree in Agricultural and Natural Resources Economics from the University of Bonn. He obtained all degrees with distinction. 

Prof Zegeye has also gained valuable experience from working as an economist on the Genetic Resources Policy Initiative (GRPI) project of Bioversity International in Kenya. He has also been a consultant to, among others, the International Food Policy Research Institute and the International Livestock Research Institute. 

“Building on my experiences, I strongly believe that there is always room for improvement in whatever we do. If we all agree with that philosophy, all of us have a unique contribution to make to achieve excellence in what we do. There is a need to remind ourselves that excellence is not a destination; it is a journey that all of us need to take as a collective responsibility,” states Prof Zegeye. 

Published articles

To date, he has published more than 80 papers on water use in smallholder agriculture, agrobiodiversity conservation and technology adoption on smallholder farms, agricultural development policy, and impact assessment of development projects/programmes/policies. Prof Zegeye is also associate editor of the International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management and serves as a reviewer for various internationally accredited journals.

News Archive

Internationally acclaimed academic applauded on Africa Day
2011-06-02

 
 Prof. Ali Mazrui, an internationally acclaimed and renowned academic.

One of the world’s top academics was given a warm welcome in the rather cold Free State recently.

Prof. Ali Mazrui, an internationally acclaimed and renowned academic, visited us as part of our Africa Day celebrations as arranged by the Centre for Africa Studies. He delivered a keynote address, entitled ‘Pro-democracy uprisings in an African experience: from Sharpeville to Benghazi.’

A festive atmosphere and the sound of drums welcomed this intellectual giant as well as other delegates upon their arrival at the CR Swart Auditorium on our Bloemfontein Campus. Some of the delegates who attended the Africa Day Celebrations, included: Mr Tom Amolo, High Commissioner from the Republic of Kenya; Mr Dan Kgothule, MEC of Arts and Culture in the province; Prof. Jeff and Dr Carla Ramsdell, visitors from America; Dr Allan Boesak and Prof. Nicky Morgan, Vice-Rector: Operations.

Prof. Frederick Fourie, former Vice-Chancellor and Rector of our university, also attended the celebrations, as did some scholars from neighboring schools.

Welcoming Prof. Mazrui, Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of our university, quipped that he was relieved the world had not ended the previous weekend as was predicted, because he was looking forward to listening to such a renowned intellectual.

Prof. Lucius Botes, Dean of Humanities, followed Prof. Jansen at the podium. He said the ability to go from following a bridging course to being one of the top 100 intellectuals in the world, indeed distinguishes Prof. Mazrui as an exceptional academic. This intellectual is, among others, an Albert Luthuli Professor at the University of Jos, Nigeria and Andrew D. Professor Emeritus and Senior Scholar in Africana Studies at Cornell University.

In his introduction, Prof. Mazrui said he feels honored and flattered by this opportunity. He proceeded by referring to the history of Africa Day and added that he would rather prefer an Africa Week to an Africa Day to ensure that everybody has the opportunity to celebrate the continent.

He sang the praises of South Africa, as almost every other African country which attained liberation from European colonial rule in the 20th century, has been unable to maintain its democratic order beyond its first decade of independence.

“The Republic of South Africa, on the other hand, liberated Nelson Mandela in 1990, held its first democratic election in 1994, and already has its third president. Nearly two decades after Apartheid, South Africa has not outlawed opposition parties, or experienced a military coup, or permitted the Head of State to govern the country as a dictator.”

In his speech he compared the uprisings in Sharpeville during 1960 and Soweto during 1976 with the more recent pro-democracy uprisings in North Africa, based on the role that weapons and the lack thereof, as well as the youth and women played in the respective cases.

He concluded by saying the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt have already resulted in ousting dictators who had been entrenched in power for decades, adding that in Libya a third dictator’s future is on the line. “Never in the history of the Arabs have there been so many popular uprisings which seem to be inspired neither by Islam nor by anti-imperialism, but in the quest for liberal reforms. Half a century earlier in Sharpeville and Soweto, South Africans experienced their own political awakening.”

Prof. Kwandiwe Kondlo, Director of the Centre for Africa Studies, closed the event with a word of thanks to the American academic and his wife, guests and attendees. He said discussions prior to the event revealed that more research has to be done regarding gender issues on the continent.

Prof. Mazrui also participated in conversations at the institute and a media briefing which was hosted earlier the day.

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