An Assessment of Challenges and Prospects of Freshman Students Orientation for Department Choice: The Case of Jimma University

The purpose of the study was to assess the nature of orientation given for admission of freshman students with particular emphasis to the then Education Faculty and Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Jimma University .Besides, factors that affect the process negatively were also dimension of the study. To this end, descriptive research method was employed. The study population was second and third year students of the two colleges and then departments’ heads; the instruments used to collect data were questionnaire (students), interview schedule (departments’ heads) and observation of an orientation held at the beginning of 2009. The data tallied and tabulated were analyzed using descriptive statistics. As the result, what was found is that the orientation given to students seems to be advertisements in the intention to win as many students as possible which is attributed to absence of well-established rules and regulations coupled with lack of a structure which administers and controls the process. So, establishing rules and regulations for admission and orientation at college /university level and placing a structure that administers the entire process with responsibility and accountability is believed to substantially alleviate the problems prevailing.