Ethiopia Moves Tigray University Students to Other Campuses
ETHIOPIA · EDUCATION
Key Facts
- —What happened Ethiopia’s Ministry of Education is temporarily moving students from four universities in Tigray to campuses elsewhere in the country.
- —Which universities Mekelle, Aksum, Adigrat and Raya.
- —Why, officially The ministry says campuses are being used to house wounded soldiers and cites insecurity in Tigray.
- —Who is on the campuses The ministry does not say which force the wounded soldiers belong to, and no independent account has established it.
- —How many students The ministry has not said.
- —How it works Through a central online portal, so students can file transfer forms without travelling to their home campus.
Four universities in northern Ethiopia are emptying. The ministry says the campuses are full of wounded soldiers.
Ethiopia’s Ministry of Education announced on 14 September that students at four Tigray universities will be temporarily reassigned to other public campuses. Five days earlier it had halted new student placements at the same four institutions.
Two Decisions, Five Days Apart
On 9 September the education minister, Professor Berhanu Nega, wrote to halt new student placements at Mekelle, Aksum, Adigrat and Raya universities.
On 14 September the ministry announced that students already enrolled there would be temporarily reassigned to other public universities.
The transfers run through a central online portal. Students can complete the forms from wherever they currently are, without reporting to their campus.
The ministry has not said how many students are affected, how long the arrangement lasts, or which universities will receive them.
What the Ministry Says Is on the Campuses
The ministry’s letter refers to wounded soldiers housed at the Kuha campus of Mekelle University and at Adigrat University facilities.
More recently, it says, the same has been confirmed at the main campuses of Aksum and Adigrat.
Placements will resume, it says, once campuses are confirmed free of military activity. Safety and continuity of education must also be assured.
Institutions were directed to completely free their campuses from military activities.
What the Ministry Does Not Say
It does not identify which armed force the wounded soldiers belong to.
Tigray has federal forces, regional forces divided between rival factions, and Eritrean forces present at various points since 2020.
No independent reporting has established whose soldiers are on which campus. The account is the ministry’s own, in a ministry letter, and the ministry is a party to the dispute.
The description given is of wounded personnel being housed rather than of campuses under operational occupation.
This Has Happened Before
Students were transferred out of Tigray universities in October 2021, during the war.
Mekelle University is one of Ethiopia’s largest and oldest institutions outside Addis Ababa. Aksum, Adigrat and Raya are federal public universities.
The region’s higher education system has not fully recovered from the fighting of 2020 to 2022.
Tigray’s regional education bureau has separately alleged that strikes during 2026 destroyed classrooms and injured teachers. That claim has not been independently verified.
The Peace Is Not Holding
The war began in November 2020 and was formally ended by the Pretoria agreement of November 2022.
Drone strikes in Tigray killed at least one person on 31 January 2026.
In August 2026 Tigray forces accused the federal government of drone strikes, including on Mekelle, amid warnings of renewed war. The federal government disputes the accounts.
The Soufan Center assessed on 21 August 2026 that the Pretoria agreement is effectively dead. It cited mobilisation on the borders and a shift in Eritrea’s alignment.
The insecurity the ministry cites is current, not left over from a finished war.
What It Means for Students
A transfer mid-degree means new course codes, new credit recognition and, in practice, lost time.
Ethiopian public universities place students centrally, so a reassignment is administered rather than chosen.
Students will be studying far from home in a country where internal travel to Tigray has been intermittently restricted.
The ministry describes the arrangement as temporary and has given no date for return.
What to Watch
Any figure for the number of students moved, which the ministry has not published.
Whether the placement halt is lifted, which the ministry ties to campuses being free of military activity.
The security situation in Tigray through the end of the year.
And whether receiving universities have the capacity, which nobody has yet addressed publicly.
More: Africa news and analysis, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which universities are affected?
Mekelle, Aksum, Adigrat and Raya, all federal public universities in Tigray.
What is happening to the students?
They are being temporarily reassigned to other public universities through a central online portal.
Why?
The ministry says campuses are being used to house wounded soldiers, and cites insecurity in Tigray.
Whose soldiers are they?
The ministry does not say, and no independent account has established it.
How many students are affected?
The ministry has not given a number, nor a duration, nor the receiving universities.
When were the decisions taken?
New placements were halted on 9 September 2026. The reassignment of existing students was announced on 14 September.
Sources: Ethiopian Ministry of Education, Kulu Media, Ethiopia Today, allAfrica, Africanews, Al Jazeera, The Soufan Center.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error
Read More from The Rio Times