On this page
- 1
Open the portal
student.ethernet.edu.et is the Ministry's Student Admission and Placement portal. The home page carries every lane: placement, preferences, special support and complaints.
- 2
Sign in with Fayda
Preferences sit behind the national digital ID. The portal calls this step 1 of 2, and it is the same sign-in for special support and complaints.
- 3
Link your admission number
Step 2 asks for the admission number from your Grade 12 exam registration. You do this once, and the portal remembers it.
- 4
Rank universities and bands
The preference screen asks you to put universities in order, and to do the same with the bands, which is what the portal calls a group of study fields.
- 5
Apply for special support if it applies to you
This covers a medical condition, a disability, twins of the same sex, and a child under six months that you are nursing. Each one needs its legal evidence uploaded with the application.
- 6
Send it before the last day
The countdown on the portal ends at 23:59 on 10 September 2026. Pagumen 05 is the last day of the Ethiopian year, so there is no week after this one.
Who the call is for
The Ministry addressed it to students who sat the 2018 E.C. secondary school leaving national examination on the regular programme and earned a university entrance result. Remedial students sat a different exam, and their results came out two days earlier on a different portal with a different sign-in.
The Grade 12 score itself lives on the results portal at result.eaes.et rather than on this one. The View Placement lane here is where the placement will appear once the Ministry makes it, and it is the one thing on the page that opens without signing in.
What the portal asks for
Two things, in this order. Fayda, the national digital ID, authenticates you. Then the portal asks you to link the admission number from your Grade 12 exam registration, once, and after that the same account carries your preferences, your special support application and any complaint you file.
The portal's own glossary defines the third word a candidate meets there. A band, or field, is a group of study fields used for ranking your preferences and for the placement itself. So the ranking has two parts: which universities, and which bands.
Special support, and the evidence it needs
The announcement names four situations where a candidate has to attach legal evidence to their choice:
- A medical condition
- A disability
- Twins of the same sex
- Mothers nursing a child under six months old
On the portal this is a lane of its own, Application for Special Support, and it takes the documents as uploads. It closes at the same moment as the preferences, 23:59 on 10 September 2026, and there is a second card next to it for checking what happened to an application you already sent.
The window in both calendars
| Ethiopian | Gregorian | |
|---|---|---|
| Opens | ነሐሴ 28 ቀን 2018 ዓ.ም. | Thursday 3 September 2026 |
| Closes | ጳጉሜን 05 ቀን 2018 ዓ.ም., 23:59 | Thursday 10 September 2026, 23:59 |
Where do I make my university and field choices?
At student.ethernet.edu.et, the Ministry of Education's Student Admission and Placement portal. Choose Submit Preferences on the home page.
When does the choice window close?
At 23:59 on 10 September 2026, which is ጳጉሜን 05 ቀን 2018 ዓ.ም., the last day of the Ethiopian year.
Do I need a Fayda ID to choose?
Yes. The portal signs you in with Fayda, the national digital ID, and then asks you to link your Grade 12 admission number once. Only the placement lookup works without signing in.
What counts as special support?
A medical condition, a disability, twins of the same sex, and mothers nursing a child under six months. Each needs its legal evidence uploaded with a separate application on the same portal.
Can I ask a university to move me after I am placed?
No. A Ministry circular prohibits universities from moving a placed first year student or admitting one who was placed elsewhere. Only the Ministry can change a placement.
Sources
Every figure and date above comes from one of these. Open them; a story about your child's school is worth checking.