Website: http://www.bdu.edu.et
Bahir Dar University was established by merging two former higher education institutions; namely the Bahir Dar Polytechnic and Bahir Dar Teachers’ College. The Bahir Dar Polytechnic Institute, which has transformed itself into Technology and Textile institutes, was established in 1963 under the technical cooperation between the Government of USSR and the Imperial Government of Ethiopia. The institute was a premier institute in producing technicians for the nation. The Bahir Dar Teachers’ College, by then known as the Academy of Pedagogy, was established in 1972 by the tripartite agreement of the Imperial Government of Ethiopia, UNESCO and UNDP and started actual work in the following year under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and Fine Arts. Its general objective was to train multipurpose primary education professionals capable of adopting primary education to rural life and rural development. Its specific objectives were to train primary school teacher trainers, supervisors, educational leaders, adult education organizers and community development agents.
The two institutions of higher learning were integrated to form the Bahir Dar University following the Council of Ministers regulation no. 60/1999 GC. The University was inaugurated on May 6, 2000. Bahir Dar University is now among the largest universities in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, with more than 52,830 students in its 219 academic programs; 69 undergraduate, 118 masters, and 32 PhD programs; Bahir Dar University has Five colleges, four institutes, two faculties and one school. The academic units of the University include College of Science, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, College of Medical and Health Sciences, College of Business and Economics, College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Ethiopia Institute of Textile and Fashion Technology, Institute of Land Administration, Institute of Disaster Risk Management and Food Security Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Faculty of Social Sciences, School of Law, Sport academy and Maritime academy. The research centers of the university are Blue Nile water Institute, Biotechnology research Institute, Pedagogy and Education research Institute, Energy research Institute, Textile, garment and fashion design, Abay culture and development research center, Geospatial data and technology center, Institute of Economics research and Demographic surveillance.
About EiTEX https://eitex.bdu.edu.et/
In Ethiopia, EiTEX is a premier higher education institute under Bahir Dar University for more than 50 years. It is a pioneer institute in offering programs in Textile, Leather, Apparel and Fashion technology. The institute started its training programs in 1963 at the advanced diploma level as department under Bahir Dar Polytechnic institute in collaboration with Russian Government.
The Diploma level program was then upgraded to B.Sc. program in Textile Engineering since 1997 to satisfy the demands of Textile and other related organizations. The syllabus for the program incorporates courses relevant to the modern textile industry. Another B.Sc. program Textile Education (Regular & Summer) and Garment Education (Summer) was started in the year 2003 to fulfil the teacher-requirements of the Technical Schools spread all over Ethiopia. The diploma and degree graduated of the institute occupy almost all the top management positions in the textile factories and related industry and other institutions in Ethiopia.
The institute is already introduced a postgraduate program (M.Sc. in Textile Technology) and undergraduate program (B.Sc. in Garment Engineering) from January 2010 and B.Sc. in Fashion Design from September 2010.
Considering the importance of the role of textile, garment and fashion design sector to the economic well-being and industrialization of Ethiopia, the Government of Ethiopia through the University has upgraded the Department of Textile Engineering to the level of the Institute with the name “Institute of Textile and Clothing Technology” from July, 2009. After a year (June 2010) with the help of ECBP (Engineering Capacity Building Program) operating in Ethiopia with collaboration of Government of Germany, the institute is renamed as “Institute of Technology for Textile, Garment and Fashion Design (EiTEX)” and functioning separately under Bahir Dar University, and currently as of March 2014 renamed as “ Ethiopian Institute of Textile and Fashion Technology (EiTEX)”.
The institute continues to strive to strengthen research, community service and technology transfer activities in order to contribute to economic development of the country as per Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP). The EiTEX is one of the limbs of the Bahir Dar University whose objectives perfectly fit the strategy of agriculture-led and export-oriented industrialization and the effort to combat the problem of textile & garment manufacturing and trade of the country.
The institute also aims to support and develop Ethiopian textile and garment industries, with the aim towards sustainable progress and keen competitiveness in the World market. Furthermore, the institute regularly organizes international conferences in the cotton, textile, apparel and leather sectors.
Generally, the vision of EiTEX has been to support and enhance the capability and the competitiveness to Ethiopian textile and garment industries including the small and medium enterprises.
