This article describes and analyses recent state-mandated undergraduate curriculum reforms in Ethiopian higher education in light global trends as well as local concerns and priorities. Two aspects of the recent curriculum reforms form the focus of the present analyses, i.e., the harmonisation of undergraduate curricula and the integration of generic/core skills in curricula through statements of graduate attributes. An argument is made that while the curriculum reforms have been prompted ostensibly by the domestic desire to improve the quality of undergraduate degrees and enhance graduate employability, at a deeper level they were attempts to regulate higher education institutions to serve more directly governmental plans and priorities. A further analysis also points how discursive borrowing of global policies has been employed to rationalise central policy makers' intentions (i.e., increased regulation) at the institutional level.