Bonga University (BU) is set to graduate dozens of undergrad students with a Coffee Science degree at the end of the current Ethiopian academic year.
It will make the university the first higher education institution in the country to graduate students in the field.
Its officials say the university will soon expand the program to the doctoral level to bring more research-based solutions to challenges observed along the coffee value chain.
Coffee represents a vital part of Ethiopia's economy, generating up to 30% of the country's foreign exchange earnings and supporting the livelihoods of more than a quarter of the population.
The sector still has a significant potential to grow in the country that boasts of some of the finest coffees in the world and the majority of its organic production.
Bonga University Sennet decided to set up a College of coffee science and Technology three years ago with a view to supporting the sector to leverage its potential with help of trained manpower and research.
Accordingly, the university inaugurated a dedicated College for the study of the Coffee, where students are currently pursuing their education in first and second-degree programs.
At least 37 first-batch of coffee science students will be graduated with a degree this academic year, Petros Woldegiorgis (Ph.D.), president of the university told EPA.
More students from the graduate program will also graduate with master's degrees next year, say officials of the university that plans to start a Ph.D. program in the field in the coming few years.
Bonga University is located in Ethiopia's Kafa Biosphere Reserve described as the birthplace of wild Arabic coffee and contains close to 5,000 wild varieties of the plant in the biodiversity hotspot.
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