Hamlin College of Midwives

Health and medical education

The Hamlin College of Midwives exists for one purpose: to prevent obstetric fistula, a childbirth injury caused mainly by the lack of skilled help during labour. Dr Catherine Hamlin, co-founder of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, opened the college in 2007. Her view was that "to put a well trained midwife in every village of Ethiopia would soon eradicate obstetric fistula". The college is run by the non-profit Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia as the centre of its prevention programme.

The BSc in Midwifery

The undergraduate course is a four-year Bachelor of Science in Midwifery. It works differently from a university programme:

• Rural recruitment. The college selects young women from rural areas who have completed grade 12.
• Full scholarship. Every student is fully funded by Hamlin donors.
• A service commitment. Graduates agree to work as a Hamlin midwife for at least three years. They are deployed back to their home areas to staff Hamlin-supported rural midwifery clinics, of which there are more than 90.
• More deliveries. The curriculum follows International Confederation of Midwives standards, including the requirement that each student conduct at least 40 deliveries before graduating. That is double Ethiopia's national minimum of 20, as noted in our midwifery guide.

Hamlin says that when a Hamlin midwife arrives at a clinic, new fistula cases in nearby villages drop to almost zero. That is the organisation's own claim, not an independent evaluation.

The MSc in Clinical Midwifery

The college also offers a postgraduate MSc in Clinical Midwifery focused on emergency obstetric, gynaecologic and newborn care. It has 55 credit hours of study and 582 hours of clinical practice over two and a half years. Hamlin says graduates can perform caesarean deliveries in health clinics, and that they will train the next generation of midwifery educators. Postgraduate students use a programmable labour-and-delivery simulator to practise emergency caesareans and newborn care.

Results and recognition

• Graduates: Hamlin reports 294 graduates since 2007, which makes this a very small college.
• Model College: in 2017 the Federal Ministry of Health recognised it as a "Model College" for midwifery education. Hamlin reported that its graduates had a 100% pass record on the national midwife licensing exam.
• Accreditation: Hamlin says its undergraduate and master's programmes are accredited by the Education and Training Authority (ETA) and the Ministry of Health. When we checked on 4 November 2026, neither programme was on the ETA's new online register. That register holds only 13 records nationwide, so ask the college for its certificates.
• Continuing education: the Hamlin Midwives Alumni Network (founded 2018) supports graduates with ongoing training. In January 2026 the college announced a partnership with Sweden's Karolinska Institutet and the Ethiopian Midwives Association. Under it, Hamlin midwife mentors are being trained to deliver Karolinska's MIDWIZE labour-and-birth programme across Ethiopia.

The college does not appear on any ranking. EduRank and uniRank rank universities, not single-subject colleges.

The institution

The college is part of Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia, the organisation behind the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. It is registered as a civil society organisation (registry number 1362). The college sits on the same grounds as Desta Mender, Hamlin's rehabilitation and reintegration centre, about 10 km outside Addis Ababa. A recent job advert for the college's dean places it in the Tatek area of Burayu town.

The college is growing. In September 2024 Hamlin reported that the first phase of an expansion would add teaching space for 250 students, accommodation for 172 residential students, a library, a café, a lecture hall and a laboratory. It said the expansion responds to growing enrolment in both the BSc and MSc.

Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia also runs fistula hospitals and a rehabilitation programme. The college's graduates staff the prevention side of that network, working in Hamlin-supported rural clinics. That link to a single employer is what makes the college different from public and private midwifery schools: students know from the start where they will work.

Admission and cost: students are selected from rural areas after grade 12 and study on full scholarships, so there is no tuition. The trade-off is the three-year service commitment. Hamlin asks that admission enquiries go to its general email address. The college has no separate published phone line, so use Hamlin's head-office number.

Before you apply

• Make sure the bond suits you. You must work as a Hamlin midwife for at least three years, usually in a rural clinic in your home area.
• Check eligibility. Hamlin describes its students as young women from rural areas who have completed grade 12. Ask about the current selection rules and how to apply in your region.
• Ask for the accreditation certificates for the BSc and MSc. Hamlin says both are ETA-accredited, but they were not yet on the ETA's online register when we checked.
• Ask where clinical practice takes place. Ask which hospitals and health centres students use to reach their 40 deliveries.
• For the MSc, confirm entry requirements and whether places are reserved for Hamlin graduates. Hamlin's pages do not say.