More than 70,500 students scored the passing mark on Ethiopia's 2025/26 Grade 12 university entrance examination, the Ministry of Education announced on Saturday — a sharp rise that lifts the pass rate to approximately 13 percent but still leaves the vast majority of test-takers without a path to public university.
Education Minister Birhanu Nega briefed reporters at the Ministry's headquarters in Addis Ababa on the overall performance. According to the Ministry, more than 550,210 students sat for the Ethiopian Higher Education Entrance Certificate Examination (EHEECE) this year. The passing threshold remains a minimum score of 50 percent.
The year-on-year increase is steep. In the 2023/24 academic year, over 36,400 students scored 50 percent or above on the national exam. In the 2024/25 cycle, the pass rate reached 8.4 percent among roughly 585,880 test-takers — implying an estimated 49,000 passers, though neither the Ministry nor reporting outlets stated that derived figure directly. This year's tally of more than 70,500 successful students from a smaller candidate pool of 550,210 suggests the pass rate has climbed to approximately 12.8 percent, continuing an upward trajectory from a low base.
The multi-year trend underscores the scale of the challenge facing Ethiopia's education system. The national pass rate stood at roughly 3 percent in 2022 and climbed to 5.4 percent in 2024 before reaching 8.4 percent in 2025. Each incremental gain has added tens of thousands of students to the pool eligible for public university placement, raising questions about whether institutional capacity can keep pace with rising demand.
The jump in passing students carries direct implications for Ethiopia's public universities, which must absorb a larger incoming cohort. With over 70,500 students now eligible for placement — compared with an estimated 49,000 last year, itself derived from the sourced 8.4 percent pass rate and roughly 585,880 test-takers, and over 36,400 the year before — federal and regional institutions face mounting pressure to expand enrollment capacity, staffing, and facilities.
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Even with the improved pass rate, the results lay bare persistent gaps. Well over 85 percent of the more than 550,210 test-takers did not meet the minimum score for university entry. The Ministry's announcement did not address what alternatives those students may pursue.
The 2024/25 EHEECE was administered in a hybrid format that included an online component. The Ministry has not detailed the format used for this year's exam.
Ethiopia's Grade 12 pass rate has climbed steadily from roughly 3 percent in 2022 to 5.4 percent in 2024 and 8.4 percent in 2025. This year's results extend that pattern of gradual improvement, but the rate — now approaching 13 percent — means that nearly nine in every ten students who complete secondary school still do not qualify for public university. Each year's gains compound the challenge facing a higher-education system that must scale enrollment to match a growing but still narrow share of secondary school graduates.
