Ethiopian Current Minister Earns PhD Degree at KAIST

Ethiopian Minister Mekuria Teklemariam Teklemariam is taking a commemorative photo after the KAIST doctoral degree conferment ceremony. Photo by KAIST

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] A current Ethiopian minister has earned a doctoral degree from KAIST.

According to KAIST on the 8th, Mekuria Teklemariam Teklemariam (50, photo), an advisory minister to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, obtained a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the Graduate School of Global IT Technology at KAIST's Department of Technology Management last month. It took four years since he began his doctoral program in September 2016.

Minister Mekuria held the title of the youngest minister in Ethiopia at the age of 40. During his six-year tenure as Minister of Urban Development and Housing, he was recognized for leading Ethiopia's economic development by establishing and implementing policies on new town and smart city development, land management, and housing development.

However, unsatisfied with this progress, he entered the KAIST doctoral program with concerns that his administrative capabilities as a minister were stagnating. His determination to study Korea's case of growth from one of the poorest countries to a strong nation led him to Korea, aiming to contribute to his country's development.

Starting his life in Korea in the fall of 2016, Minister Mekuria researched topics such as the impact of closing the information gap on economic growth and corruption control, and policies for the rapid spread and adoption of ultra-high-speed internet in developing countries, presenting his findings at domestic and international conferences.

In particular, during his time at KAIST, Minister Mekuria conducted collaborative research with organizations such as the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA) and the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), earning the prestigious Excellent Collaborative Research Award twice in 2018 from the Graduate School of Global IT Technology.

Additionally, his graduation thesis research on ‘Stepwise Customized Mobile Ultra-High-Speed Internet Diffusion Policy’ was published last August in the SSCI journal Telecommunications Policy, one of the top international journals in the field of information and communication.

This achievement was the result of successfully completing quantitative policy research analyzing national information and communication policies with broadband networks and proposing customized policies suitable for developing countries.

Based on these accomplishments, KAIST introduced that Minister Mekuria received his doctoral degree last month along with the honor of being the top graduate of the Graduate School of Global IT Technology.

Minister Mekuria said, "I was impressed by the Korean people's efforts to fulfill their roles wherever they are and to put those efforts into action rather than words," adding, "I will strive to apply and implement what I learned in Korea and at KAIST in Ethiopia."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.