Factors affecting learning outcomes achievement of public administration bachelor students in Ethiopia
| Published date | 01 October 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/01447394231223079 |
| Author | Kiflie Worku Angaw,Bacha Kebede Debela,Marleen Brans |
| Date | 01 October 2024 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Teaching Public Administration
2024, Vol. 42(3) 331–351
© The Author(s) 2023
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DOI: 10.1177/01447394231223079
journals.sagepub.com/home/tpa
Factors affecting learning
outcomes achievement of
public administration bachelor
students in Ethiopia
Kiflie Worku Angaw
KU Leuven, Belgium
Bacha Kebede Debela
Ethiopian Public Administration Association (EPAA), Ethiopia
Marleen Brans
KU Leuven, Belgium
Abstract
Public administration education is a key instrument to address emerging public admin-
istration challenges. Ethiopia started public administration education in the 1950s, and
currently, 13 public universities are offering bachelor programs in public administration.
Nevertheless, PA program learning outcome achievements are not been studied, and
comparative studies are absent. By relying on the resource dependency theory and survey
data collected from PA Bachelor students (n= 91) and faculty members (n= 28) in three
PA-teaching public universities, this article tries to fill these gaps. Significant differences
were found between students and faculty members, and between universities with regard
to PA learning outcome achievements. The variation between universities in terms of
access to resources and student support is also substantial. The difference between
students and faculty members, and between universities on the PA faculty quality and the
quality of the teaching-learning method proved insignificant. The study confirms public
administration faculty members, access to resources, and student support services
positively influence PA learning outcomes. The article contributes to PA education
literature and PA program evaluation.
Corresponding author:
Kiflie Worku Angaw, Public Governance Institute, KU Leuven, Parkstraat 45, bus 3609, Leuven 3000,
Belgium.
Email: macrown55@gmail.com
Keywords
Public administration, public administration education, learning outcomes, resource
dependency theory
Introduction
Public Administration (PA) education quality is crucial to achieve the 16th United
Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that focus on “peace, justice and strong
institutions”and other SDGs targets that emphasize effective, accountable, and inclusive
public administration (Bouckaert et al., 2016;Lues, 2021). It helps to address the 21st-
century public administration grand challenges such as increasing socio-economic in-
equalities, reinvigorating public services, technological changes, and climate change
(Gerton and Mitchell, 2019). The increasing socioeconomic and politico-administrative
complexities and challenges underline the need for excellence in PA education and
competent public service experts (Brans and Hondeghem, 2005;Rosenbaum, 2015).
These challenges suggest PA programs need to develop relevant PA competencies (Brans
and Coenen, 2016;Jennings, 2019;Reichard and Van der Krogt, 2014;Van Dooren et al.,
2015). According to Brans and Coenen (2016),
1
the six core PA education competencies
include managing public governance, participating in and contributing to policy and
administrative processes, articulating and applying the public service perspective,
communicating and interacting productively in the public domain, analyzing and solving
problems by using appropriate scientific methods, and understanding the public domain.
In addition, PA education is critical to the bureaucracy of public administration, which
contributes significantly to the policy process (Newcomer and Allen, 2015). In which its
learning outcomes are important to produce these competencies.
To achieve these competencies, PA programs should be interdisciplinary and incor-
porate public service values such as effectiveness, participation, social justice,impartiality,
accountability, transparency, and public service motivation (Dolamore and Whitebread,
2022;Evans and Knepper, 2021). The program should have quality staff (NASPAA,2009;
Sarrico and Alves, 2016), and adequate student support services to improve learning
outcomes achievement (Jennings, 2019;Manwaring et al., 2020;Newcomer and Allen,
2010;van der Krogt, 2015). There is also a necessity to apply appropriate pedagogical
philosophies that combine both theories and practices (Fuertes, 2021), and ensure the
availability and accessibility of educational resources (HERQA, 2006;Teshome and
Rayner, 2005). Program learning outcomes and factors that affect learning outcomes
should also be evaluated frequently (Brans and Coenen, 2016) with the participation of
relevant stakeholders in the evaluation process (Larat, 2015;O’Neill, 2021).
Resources, in general, and faculty members, in particular, play significant roles in the
teaching-learning process. PA faculty members must possess a strong foundation of PA
theories and practices and focus on a learner-centric teaching approach (Pattyn et al.,
2008) to enhance students’progression to achieve learning outcomes specified in the
curriculum (Brown, 2020;Gurukkal, 2020). Poor faculty members’quality lead to
332 Teaching Public Administration 42(3)
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