Dire Dawa University

Dire-Dawa University is a young public institution which was established and started its academic activities in the 2006/07 academic year. The establishment of the University is inline with the government’s policy of expanding quality higher education and ensuring its equitable distribution across the country. Dire-Dawa University is located in the industrial and commercial city called Dire-Dawa located about 500Km east of Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. With a population size of about 360,000, Dire-Dawa is Ethiopia’s second largest city. Dire-Dawa was founded in 1902 after the Addis Ababa – Djibouti Railway construction reached the area. Dire-Dawa built in a low-lying landscape, which made it ideal for construction of the railway and settlement, and it soon became a vibrant urban center. Dire-Dawa is one of the two chartered cities in Ethiopia, the other being Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. Dire-Dawa is a cosmopolitan city with mosaic culture and its population is known for its mutual respect, tolerance and most of all its hospitality. Everybody feels at home in Dire-Dawa, and this together with industry and commerce dominated economic settings makes it a very suitable place for a university and university community.