# Addis Ababa University

> Ethiopia's oldest university and home of its first medical school (1964). Its College of Health Sciences teaches medicine, dentistry, nursing, midwifery, pharmacy, public health and allied health at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, the country's largest specialised hospital.

Source: https://www.medicine.et/schools/addis-ababa-university  
Site: Bloom Medicine — https://www.medicine.et  
Last updated: 2026-11-04

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Public university · Addis Ababa, Addis Ababa · founded 1950 · details checked November 4, 2026

## Contact

- Phone: +251 11 895 9055 (College of Health Sciences / Tikur Anbessa Campus) — Listed for Tikur Anbessa Campus on the current contact page; an archived College of Health Sciences contacts page gives the same number for the chief executive director's office.
- Phone: +251 11 123 9752 (Sidist Kilo (main) campus) — Listed as the President's Office line on the university's archived 2024 contacts page.
- Phone: +251 11 123 9706 (Registrar) — From the university's own contacts page as archived in November 2024; the current site does not list the Registrar.
- Phone: +251 11 123 9705 (Communications Office) — From the university's own contacts page as archived in November 2024.
- Phone: +251 11 123 9800 (Main line) — From a university directory (uniRank); not confirmed on the university's own site.
- Email: chs@aau.edu.et (College of Health Sciences)
- Email: tikurambessacampus@aau.edu.et (Tikur Anbessa Campus)
- Email: health.sciences@aau.edu.et (College of Health Sciences (older address))
- Email: dean.som@aau.edu.et (Dean, School of Medicine)
- Email: chs.soph@aau.edu.et (Dean, School of Public Health)
- Email: chs.sop@aau.edu.et (Dean, School of Pharmacy)
- Email: chs.snmdean@aau.edu.et (Dean, School of Nursing and Midwifery)
- Email: registrar@aau.edu.et (Registrar)
- Email: 6kilocampus@aau.edu.et (Sidist Kilo (main) campus)
- Website: https://www.aau.edu.et
- Address: Main campus at Sidist Kilo, Addis Ababa; the College of Health Sciences is at the Tikur Anbessa Campus
- P.O. Box: P.O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Addis-Ababa-University-100064311447035/
- Telegram: https://t.me/aau_official
- X: https://x.com/AAU_Official
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/addis-ababa-university-official
- YouTube: https://youtube.com/@AddisAbabaUniversity-AAU
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@aauniversity
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aau_official_/

## Health programmes

- Doctor of Medicine (MD)
- Doctor of Dental Medicine
- BSc Nursing
- BSc Midwifery
- BSc Pharmacy
- BSc Anesthesia
- BSc Medical Laboratory Sciences
- BSc Medical Radiologic Technology
- Master of Public Health (general) and MPH tracks in epidemiology and biostatistics, field epidemiology, health economics, health systems management and policy, reproductive, family and population health, public health nutrition, environmental and occupational health, and health promotion
- MSc in Health Informatics
- MSc in Nursing, MSc Advanced Nursing Practice, MSc Emergency Nursing, MSc Neonatal Nursing
- MSc in Clinical Pharmacy, Pharmacology, Social and Administrative Pharmacy, Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacognosy, Pharmaceutical Analysis and Quality Assurance, Regulatory Affairs
- MSc in Anesthesia, Cardiovascular Perfusion, Clinical Psychology, Clinical Trials
- MSc in Clinical Laboratory Sciences (several tracks), Medical Microbiology, Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry
- PhD programmes including Public Health, Nursing, Clinical Pharmacy, Pharmacology, Mental Health Epidemiology and Translational Medicine
- 23 medical specialty and 32 subspecialty programmes (university figures)

## Health and medical education

Addis Ababa University (AAU) is where university medical education in Ethiopia began. Its medical faculty started teaching in **1964**, and clinical teaching later moved to what is now **Tikur Anbessa (Black Lion) Specialized Hospital**. Today all health training sits in the **College of Health Sciences (CHS)**, formed in 2009/10 when the university brought its separate health institutions under one roof.

The university describes the college as four schools plus one teaching hospital: the School of Medicine, the School of Pharmacy, the School of Public Health and a school for allied health sciences that covers nursing, midwifery and medical laboratory science. Its programme listing now shows separate units for nursing and midwifery and for biomedicine and medical laboratory sciences. In the university's own figures, the college has **over 5,000 students and over 600 full-time faculty**, and offers eight undergraduate and more than 70 postgraduate programmes.

### Undergraduate programmes

The university's programme directory lists eight undergraduate health degrees: the **Doctor of Medicine**, the **Doctor of Dental Medicine**, and BSc degrees in **nursing, midwifery, pharmacy, anesthesia, medical laboratory sciences** and **medical radiologic technology**. The School of Public Health teaches only at postgraduate level, though it teaches public health to students in the other schools. Earlier research reports a five-week rural community health placement for medical students at Ziway, about 160 km south of Addis Ababa.

### Specialist training

AAU runs the widest range of residencies in the country. The university counts **23 specialty and 32 subspecialty programmes** in the health sciences. Its programme listing includes specialties in internal medicine, family medicine, general surgery, neurosurgery, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, psychiatry, neurology, ophthalmology, radiology, pathology, emergency and critical care medicine, anaesthesiology, clinical oncology, nuclear medicine, dermatovenereology, urology, ENT, plastic surgery, thoracic surgery, orthopaedics and oral and maxillofacial surgery. Subspecialties range from adult and paediatric cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery to maternal–fetal medicine, gynaecologic oncology, neonatology, nephrology, gastroenterology and several radiology tracks.

Much of Ethiopia's specialist training started here. **East Africa's first neurology residency** began at Tikur Anbessa and Zewditu hospitals in 2006. Ethiopia's **first family-medicine residents**, seven doctors, graduated in 2016.

### Nursing, midwifery, public health and pharmacy

- **Nursing:** AAU ran the country's first master's in nursing (2009). In 2015 it began **Ethiopia's first PhD in nursing**, under an agreement with Emory University. Current master's tracks include emergency, neonatal and advanced nursing practice.
- **Public health:** the Department of Community Health was founded in 1964. It started Ethiopia's **first MPH in 1984** and a PhD in 2003/04, and became the School of Public Health in 2010. It now lists a general MPH and specialty tracks from field epidemiology to health economics, plus an MSc in health informatics.
- **Pharmacy:** a 2007–2014 partnership with Howard University helped build the five-year, clinically oriented pharmacy degree introduced in 2008. Tikur Anbessa set up Ethiopia's first drug information centre in 2009. The school now offers master's and PhD programmes in clinical pharmacy, pharmacology, social pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences.

### Teaching hospital

**Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital** is the college's teaching hospital. The university describes it as Ethiopia's largest specialised hospital, with **over 700 beds**, serving more than a million patients a year. It trains medical students, residents, dentists, nurses, midwives, pharmacists and laboratory and radiology technologists. The university says the college is the only place in the country where some specialised tertiary care is given. The university reports two teaching hospitals in total; its pages name only Tikur Anbessa for the health college.

### Rankings and accreditation

AAU is **first in Ethiopia on EduRank for medicine** (751st in the world) and for pharmacology, and second for nursing, public health, pharmacy and obstetrics–gynaecology. These lists count research citations, not teaching quality.

On the Education and Training Authority's new online accreditation register, the **BSc in Anesthesia at the Tikur Anbessa Campus** holds provisional accreditation (February 2026 to February 2029). The MD programme was not on the register when we checked. The World Directory of Medical Schools lists AAU's medical school. Ethiopia's Ministry of Health does not publish licensing-exam results by school.

## The institution

Addis Ababa University opened in **1950** as the University College of Addis Ababa, with 33 students. It became Haile Selassie I University in 1961 and took its present name in 1975. The Council of Ministers approved a regulation to make it an autonomous university in August 2023.

It is still the country's largest university. In its own figures it has **34,286 students** (22,593 undergraduate, 9,660 master's and 2,033 PhD), **8,709 employees** including 3,110 academic staff and 1,253 health professionals, and 14 campuses. It runs 66 undergraduate and about 350 graduate programmes across 7 colleges, 7 institutes and a School of Law.

The main campus and the Registrar are at **Sidist Kilo**. The health college is based at the **Tikur Anbessa Campus**.

**Admissions.** Undergraduate places in regular programmes are filled through the national placement system after the higher-education entrance exam. AAU runs its own online portal (admission.aau.edu.et), where applicants register with their national ID (Fayda), choose regular or extension study, and choose cost-sharing or self-sponsorship. Graduate applicants take AAU's Graduate Admission Test (GAT). Medical specialty training is a separate route for qualified doctors.

AAU is first in Ethiopia on uniRank and on EduRank's overall list. Its last Times Higher Education world ranking was 601–800 in the 2023 edition.

## Before you apply

- Check the current status of the exact programme. AAU's site lists programmes but not intake dates; the admissions portal shows when each call opens.
- If you are choosing a residency, ask the department which subspecialties are taking new residents this year. The listing includes some programmes that may not admit every year.
- Ask how clinical teaching is split between Tikur Anbessa and other hospitals. A very busy referral hospital can mean large student groups on each ward.
- For a self-sponsored or extension place, get the fees in writing. AAU's main site does not publish a fee table.
- The School of Public Health takes graduates only. Undergraduates wanting public health work usually go via a health degree first.
- Some office emails and phone numbers above come from older official pages. Confirm them with the college before relying on them.

## Rankings

- EduRank Medicine (Ethiopia / world): 1 / 751 (https://edurank.org/medicine/et/)
- EduRank Nursing (Ethiopia / world): 2 / 372 (https://edurank.org/medicine/nursing/et/)
- EduRank Public Health (Ethiopia / world): 2 / 330 (https://edurank.org/medicine/public/et/)
- EduRank Pharmacology (Ethiopia / world): 1 / 1,004 (https://edurank.org/medicine/pharmacology/et/)
- EduRank Pharmacy (Ethiopia / world): 2 / 1,464 (https://edurank.org/medicine/pharmacy/et/)
- EduRank Obstetrics and Gynecology (Ethiopia / world): 2 / 615 (https://edurank.org/medicine/obgyn/et/)
- EduRank overall (Ethiopia / world): 1 / 1,121 (https://edurank.org/geo/et/)
- uniRank 2026 (Ethiopia): 1 (https://www.unirank.org/et/ranking/)
- Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023: 601–800 (https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/addis-ababa-university)

## Sources

- [Addis Ababa University: Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital (TASH) / College of Health Sciences overview](https://www.aau.edu.et/pages/AAU-Services/detail?title=Tikur~Anbessa~Specialized~Hospital~(TASH)~)
- [Addis Ababa University: Programs A to Z](https://www.aau.edu.et/A-to-Z_listing)
- [Addis Ababa University: AAU at a Glance](https://www.aau.edu.et/aau-at-a-glance)
- [Addis Ababa University: History](https://www.aau.edu.et/history)
- [Addis Ababa University: Contact us](https://www.aau.edu.et/contactus)
- [Addis Ababa University: Contact us (archived November 2024)](http://web.archive.org/web/20241112215217/https://www.aau.edu.et/contacts/)
- [AAU College of Health Sciences: CHS Contacts (archived January 2025)](http://web.archive.org/web/20250116042620/http://www.aau.edu.et/chs/about/chs-contacts/)
- [Addis Ababa University admissions portal: How to apply](https://admission.aau.edu.et/HowToApply)
- [FDRE Education and Training Authority: Accredited Institutions & Programs](https://accreditation.neta.gov.et)
- [World Directory of Medical Schools: Addis Ababa University](https://search.wdoms.org/home/SchoolDetail/F0001363)
- [EduRank: Best universities for medicine in Ethiopia (updated 15 March 2026)](https://edurank.org/medicine/et/)
- [EduRank: Best universities in Ethiopia](https://edurank.org/geo/et/)
- [uniRank: 2026 Ethiopian University Ranking](https://www.unirank.org/et/ranking/)
- [uniRank: Addis Ababa University profile](https://www.unirank.org/et/uni/addis-ababa-university/)
- [Times Higher Education: Addis Ababa University](https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/addis-ababa-university)
- [Assefa T et al. Survival analysis to measure turnover of the medical education workforce in Ethiopia. Human Resources for Health, 2017](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5348897/)
- [Mekasha A. Brief history of medical education in Ethiopia. Ethiopian Medical Journal 58(1), 2020](https://emjema.org/index.php/EMJ/article/download/1461/577)
- [Wikipedia: Black Lion Hospital](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lion_Hospital)
- [Neurology training and medical education in resource-limited settings: building the first neurology residency program in East Africa](https://citedrive.com/en/discovery/neurology-training-and-medical-education-in-resource-limited-settings-building-and-growing-the-first-neurology-residency-program-in-east-africa/)
- [UW Global Health Institute: Ethiopia graduates first family medicine doctors (2016)](https://ghi.wisc.edu/2016/02/18/ethiopia-graduates-first-family-medicine-doctors-through-residency-program-developed-in-partnership-with-the-university-of-wisconsin/)
- [Emory Nursing Magazine: PhD nursing program is a first for Ethiopia (2015)](https://emorynursingmagazine.emory.edu/issues/2015/fall/briefs/phd-program-in-ethiopia/index.html)
- [Tilahun YG et al. The journey of Ethiopian nursing education. International Journal of Current Research, 2016](https://www.journalcra.com/sites/default/files/issue-pdf/12481.pdf)
- [AAU School of Public Health background (archived July 2024)](https://web.archive.org/web/20240708020656/https://www.aau.edu.et/chs/academic-programs/school-of-public-health-3/departments-of-public-health/background/)
- [Amde WK, Sanders D, Lehmann U. Building capacity to develop an African teaching platform on health workforce development. Human Resources for Health 12:31, 2014](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4049409/)
- [Addis Ababa University: home page (Tikur Anbessa patient numbers)](https://www.aau.edu.et/)
- [Bhagavathula AS. Clinical pharmacy in Ethiopia: an experience based literature review. Global Health (University of Findlay), 2018](https://journals.findlay.edu/index.php/gh/article/view/68)
- [TAAAC: University of Toronto–AAU pharmacy collaboration](https://taaac.ca/pharmacy)