A study of the organization and operational strategies to link research and extension in the agricultural higher education institutions in Ethiopia

Scope and method of study. Agricultural Higher Education Institutions in Ethiopia have not been successful in bringing a significant positive impact upon the rural communities in terms of research and extension. This study was designed to investigate the organization and operational strategies of the research and extension sub-systems of these institutions to forward recommendations for improvement programs. All faculty holding the Master's degree and above and the extension field staff from three institutions participated in the study. Questionnaires were used to collect the data. Descriptive statistical methods, and the Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance were used to analyze them.;Findings and conclusions. A great majority of the respondents were male below the age of 38, and lecturers holding the Master's degree. Institutional leadership, and professional communications with peers within the institutions were variables perceived to be available to a more than average extent, and lack of incentives, and availability of senior staff were the top two problems for the effectiveness of both research and extension. Research and extension were perceived to be two separate units, but coordinated by a single administrator, and their primary responsibilities should rest on regional research and extension problems. Selected research and extension linkage strategies were identified in the study. Statistical comparisons of these institutions revealed that they had similar resource bases and problems in implementing research and extension programs. Therefore, it was concluded that the Agricultural Higher Education Institutions should be given full responsibilities for conducting region-wide research and extension programs, with adequate resources, proper operational policies, and organizational autonomy.