Mekelle Institute of Technology is located at Ainalem, just 5 km from Mekelle, the capital city of the Tigrai Region. The capital city is one of the five administrative zones of the Region with an estimated population of 180,000.

Empowered by the recent Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the government and the people have been working relentlessly to rebuild this war-ravaged country. Ever since the downfall of the Derg regime, various development initiatives have been undertaken and some notable achievements have been registered. This has been made possible through the efforts and partnership of the Federal and State governments as well as non-governmental organizations.

Rationale 

We are living in a globalized era where scientific developments and technological advancements are growing at an astoundingly rapid rate. The twenty-first century is being welcomed with previously undreamed of advancements in bioengineering and genetics (e.g. the cloning of a sheep), uncontrollable information technologies (e.g. the emerging Internet networks) and the consumption and utilization of unimaginable amounts of energy.

Until 2002, however, there was no such institution of higher learning in Ethiopia that specialized exclusively in Science and Technology similar to the five well-known Institutes of Technology in India, or the University of Science and Technology at Kumassi in Ghana. These institutes have played significant roles in the advancement of industrialization and economic development in the respective countries. The institutions of higher learning in Ethiopia that offer science and technology studies are centers of full-fledged university education programs with a wider scope mandated to produce graduates in diversified areas of studies. The teaching of science/engineering subjects is conducted to just satisfy limited objectives, i.e. producing generalists in these fields of study. The situation calls for the establishment of institutions of science and technology.

Moreover although there exists tangible progress in recent years towards the establishment and expansion of tertiary level education in the country, the fact that there is an unprecedented and very impressive increase in educational enrolment at the primary and secondary levels, puts an increasing pressure on tertiary level education. This can clearly be observed from the increasingly widening gap between the number of students who have completed high school and are seeking admission to tertiary level institutions and the places available in those institutions. For instance, in Tigrai, in 1992 of the 1,409 ESLCE candidates, only 87, constituting 6.2 percent of this group, were admitted to diploma and degree level programs. In 1998, out of the 2886 only 992, i.e. 34.4 percent, managed to get admission to diploma and degree level programs, and in 2001, out of the 6010 candidates, only 1200 i.e. 20 percent were admitted to the same.

The Federal and Regional governments are opening tertiary level institutions and the private sector has also started investing in institutions of this level of education. However, even with all of these efforts there will still be an insufficient number of schools to absorb the potential secondary school complete students who wish to continue their studies and who are badly needed to accelerate the country's development activities.

Thus, the opening of new institutions particularly devoted to the teaching of science and technology and strategic adaptive science research is extremely important to the socio-economic progress of our country.

More specifically the rationale and justification for the establishment of  Mekelle Institute of Technology will guarantee:

• The immediate and long-term socio-economic development of the country in general by providing highly qualified professionals in the field of Technology.
   

• The introduction of systematic changes in outlook towards the benefits of modern science and technology through dedicated and/or committed scholarly work and scientific research;
   

• The transfer of needed and selected technology at affordable costs within a relatively short time and hopefully well before the population doubles or triples.
   

• The acquisition of sufficient experience in the execution of higher educational programs that can be immediately shared with and replicated in other institutions.

Vision

Mekelle Institute of Technology will be a center of excellence in technological training and research, contributing to the fight against poverty and for sustainable development.