Tropentag 2006 Bonn, October 11-13, 2006 Conference on International Agricultural Research for Development Taking a systems approach to agricultural education, research and extension: Analysis of the extension role and the Practical Attachment Program of Mekelle University, Ethiopia Mamusha Lemma 1 , Volker Hoffmann 1 1 University of Hohenheim, Agricultural Communication and Extension, Germany Abstract The capacity to benefit from knowledge depends on the ability to acquire and apply existing knowledge and the ability to produce new knowledge. Agricultural education is central to the building of this capacity for the production, dissemination, and utilisation of knowledge. In Ethiopia, higher education is undergoing a major expansion and reform in light of its contribution to capacity building and development. This paper discusses the extension role of higher education in Ethiopia with reference to Mekelle University. The main focus of the paper is the Practical Attachment Program (PAP) of the university. The development effect of the university will be enhanced when its education, research and extension functions are integrated and developing organically. However, presently, extension is not a well articulated function of the university. While significant attention has been given to research, provisions for fully integrating extension within the research process have been inadequate. The paper examines efforts at Mekelle University in putting knowledge into use and identifies gaps in its knowledge transformation and management. The paper observes that improving the knowledge environment within the university requires the adoption of an effective academic reward structure and developing staff research-orientation and knowledge sharing culture. Keywords: Teaching, research, extension, PAP, Tigray, Ethiopia. Introduction During the last decades, the policies of Ethiopia have drastically changed, and the Government has made enormous efforts to enhance the role of higher education in development. This paper discusses the extension role of higher education in Ethiopia with reference to Mekelle University. The changing role of higher education in Ethiopia, as well as insight from international experience, provides the motivation to examine the ways of organizing knowledge flows at Mekelle University and the activities of its faculty members and students. The authors analyze efforts at Mekelle University in generating, transforming and disseminating knowledge for local development from a knowledge systems perspective. The material presented in this paper is drawn primarily from key informant interviews, literature review, observations and personal experience of the corresponding author gained while working at the university, and the arguments here may be generalised for any higher education institution in Ethiopia. The systems approach to agricultural knowledge The role of agriculture has changed through time and continues to change. Today our conception of agriculture focuses increasingly on integrated agricultural systems. A systems approach to agricultural knowledge helps understand the complexity inherent in the knowledge process since it addresses the linkages among a multitude of actors, the performance of their relationships, and the social and institutional boundaries involved. The systems approach acknowledges the multiplicity of actors in the knowledge process, each playing one or more often overlapping tasks with functional interdependency (MCDERMOTT 1987). FAO and the WORLD BANK (2000)