On March 14 (2025), the Federal Ministry of Education of Ethiopia presented its first PhD competency Framework to all its public universities. This document describes the general Ethiopian PhD competency framework that consists of seven roles, 16 competencies and 60 behavior indicators. It aims to ensure that post-graduate education is rigorous, relevant, and aligned with both academic and professional expectations. It was developed and validated by a VLIR-UOS Network coordinated by Ghent University. The document was rigorously validated in an Ethiopian context by more than 300 participants over five rounds between October (2023) and December (2024), covering the most important stakeholders (e.g., Vice Presidents of Academic Affairs, Post-Graduate Directors, PhD supervisors and PhD students at the different Ethiopian Universities, Ethiopian Education and Training Authority, and the Flemish partners). The official presentation of the document was attended by representatives of VLIR-UOS and the Belgian Embassy.