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The number of highly skilled Africans leaving their country of origin, many with PhDs, has reached disturbing proportions. Meanwhile, Africa spends billions per year to fill the capacity gaps that are created by the exodus of the highly skilled. In Africa, Ethiopia ranked first in terms of rate of loss of human capital. Many African governments are unable to match salaries or offer incentives to draw the highly skilled to return home in this context. The article focuses on the knowledge Diaspora, and the possibilities that exist to offset the potential impact of brain drain on their country of origin. The paper examines pathways for the mobilisation of the African Intellectual Diasporas, in particular the Ethiopian knowledge Diaspora, by addressing the main factors that played a role in shaping the new direction of the brain drain phenomenon. (Contains 2 figures.)

Educational access in developing countries has improved significantly in recent years, but less evidence is available on learning and learning progress in comparative perspective. This paper employs data from Young Lives to examine levels and trends in cognitive skill development and the links to enrolment in school across the four study countries for pupils aged five to 15. Non-continuous patterns of enrolment are linked to lower learning levels in all countries, as are key indicators of home background disadvantage. Large differences in learning and learning progress are also found between the four countries' education sytems, with "learning gains" being typically highest in Vietnam and much lower in India (Andhra Pradesh) and Ethiopia. Inequalities linked to prior learning and home backgrounds are wide in Peru, while in Ethiopia and India relatively low levels of learning progress are a more general concern. In Ethiopia, both enrolment and quality improvements remain priorities for policy, while in India high levels of primary school enrolment, at younger ages than in the other study countries, suggest that comprehensive quality improvements may be required, nonetheless with a focus on disadvantaged pupils and those with low attainment in the early years.

The rapid quantitative growth of higher education in Ethiopia has triggered considerable concern for quality. The present paper analyses why expanding the higher education subsector took precedence over quality against the backdrop of the current Ethiopian political discourse. This article argues that the growing public demand due to globalization and the changed local realities, the ideology of social inclusion and distributive justice, and poverty reduction rationales are the main forces driving the unprecedented growth. Further, the study examines the current state of quality assurance at system and institutional levels and their potency to maintain the equilibrium between quantitative growth and quality enhancement based on data obtained through interviews, analysis of relevant policy documents, and government statistics. Finally, ways of redressing existing quality gaps in the higher education subsector are discussed.