Haramaya University is one of the oldest universities in Ethiopia. It is located 5 km from Alemaya, a town in the East Hararghe Zone, about 17 kilometers from the city of Harar and 40 kilometers from Dire Dawa.The university was founded with the help of Oklahoma State University (OSU), accepting its first students in 1954, and the new campus was opened in January 1958 by Emperor Haile Selassie. OSU's participation set a record for American technical assistance programs, with 60 professionals supporting the project at one time, but due to the lack of qualified educators this required a commitment to his endeavor from the University for several years; this degree of commitment was due to the personal support of the former OSU president, Henry G. Bennett.Haramaya University was promoted from a college within Addis Ababa University to an independent university on May 27, 1985. For many years the university had been limited to only an agricultural curriculum, but in 1996 the university was given permission to open other faculties and departments.HistoryThe agreement, made on May 16, 1952 between the governments of the then imperial Ethiopia and the United States of America, was believed to have given rise to the present Haramaya University. After the historic document named "Agreement between the Government of Ethiopia and the Technical Cooperation Administration of the Government of the United States of America", Oklahoma State University embarked on establishing buildings and bringing in staff from abroad to run academic, research and extension programs in the Imperial Ethiopia College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts.