The Program of Action of ICPD recognized that meeting the reproductive health (RH) needs is a vital requirement for human and social development. Protecting and promoting the reproductive and sexual rights of the youth and empowering them to make informed choices is a key to their wellbeing [2,3]. Action for universal access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) by 2015 was agreed by 179 countries; despite this international commitment, progress towards the program has been slow [4].

Reproductive health targeted Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will not be achieved without improving access to RH [5]. The majority of the young people have very little knowledge on what sexual rights they are entitled to. Sometimes, they do not even appreciate the extent of their violations and worse still they do not know where they could go, for legal or social advice [6,7]. Sources of information the youth traditionally access, such as parents have a skewed conception on anything related to sexuality and approach it from a cautionary perspective rather than from an informative one. Formal education on sexuality is limited to RH which is commonly found in the science syllabi and biology and does not cover reproductive and sexual rights [8].

The youth are unable to deal with such violations because of barriers like shame, guilt, embarrassment, not wanting friends and family to know; confidentiality; and fear of not being believed [9] and partly because of their inadequate knowledge and experience on sexuality issues including legal instruments that may accord them an opportunity to claim and protect sexuality-related rights [8].

Young people face increasing pressures regarding sex and sexuality including conflicting messages and norms which may be perpetuated by lack of awareness of their rights and results in many young people being either unable to seek help when they need it, and may prevent them from giving input within policy and decision making processes [10].

Evidences from Ethiopian Universities revealed that violations are rampant and inadequately addressed [11]. The in and out of school Ethiopian youth in the age range of 15 and 24years face lots of challenges and constitute the highest percentage of new HIV cases in the country [12]. Traditional practices such as early marriage, marriage by abduction, and female genital cutting adversely affect the health and wellbeing of young people [13].

At the beginning, students were stratified based on their year of study, as first, second, and third year and above. From the five faculties, students in each batch were selected using the simple random sampling technique. The number of students sampled from each faculty was proportional to the total number of students thereof. Regarding knowledge of reproductive and sexual rights, students who scored above the mean score in the knowledge questions were considered knowledgeable. Data were collected using a pretested structured self-administered questionnaire. Twelve data collectors guided by one supervisor collected the data on April 7, 2012. The study participants filled the questionnaire at the same time in 12 lecture halls, each with 200 seats. Only 55 students sat in each lecture hall. Female and male students were placed in different rooms to ensure their privacy. Data quality was controlled by giving trainings and appropriate supervisions for data collectors. The overall supervision was carried out by the principal investigator. A pre-test was conducted on 5% of the questionnaire on students of Gondar University. Appropriate modifications were made after analyzing the pre-test result before the actual data collection.

The questionnaires filled by the students were checked for completeness and entered into EPI INFO version 3.5.3 statistical software and then exported to SPSS version 20 for further analysis. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the study population in relation to relevant variables. Both bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used to identify associated factors. Odds Ratios and their 95% Confidence Intervals were computed and variables with p - value less than 0.05 were considered as significantly associated with the outcome variable.

In this study, a substantial proportion of students were not knowledgeable. As university students are the educated segment of the population, are expected to be the next leaders of the nation, this level of knowledge is far below adequate.

Around two third of the respondents did not accept that a married woman has the right to limit the number of her children according to her desire without her husband’s consent. Furthermore a large group did not know that a married woman has the right to say no to sex, regardless of her husband`s wishes. This finding was lower than that of a study conducted in US, Texas [15]. This disparity might be because of the difference in culture and norm in which the two populations were brought up. Sex and sexuality are taboo in most Ethiopian cultures, resulting in reluctance to discuss and address sexual health issues [16]. Furthermore, the Ethiopian society is highly patriarchal where women’s right is undermined [17]. For most African societies, lack of knowledge on sexual matters entails safety as it is assumed that if adolescents are not exposed to such knowledge, the likelihood of getting involved, and consequently becoming victims, will be slim [18].

Among the respondents, about one-fifth of the females and one-fourth of males agreed that a husband should get sex whenever he wants irrespective of his wife’s wish. This finding is better than a similar study conducted among Indian adolescents selected from five states representing different cultural settings, where above 40% of women agreed to it [19]. This difference might be attributed to the difference in age and educational level of the study participants.

Students who came from urban areas were more likely to be knowledgeable compared to those who came from rural areas. The possible explanation for this scenario can be that students from towns relatively have better access to information through youth associations, youth centers, the media and the environment itself because most of NGO services are limited to urban areas. However, their counterparts from rural areas might lack such chances because of low awareness of the society which inhibits free and open discussion about reproductive and sexual issues.

Students who had attended private elementary and high schools were more likely to be knowledgeable than students from public schools. This finding is in contrary to the Nigerian study where students attending public schools were more aware of RSR than students from private schools [20]. In Nigeria, NGOs working on RH give more emphasis to public schools than to the private schools. But in Ethiopia, the number of NGOs working in public elementary and high schools is low. Additionally, compared to public schools, most of the private schools are found in towns where the students are more familiar with this issue and have better access to youth centers and sexuality education. Anti HIV/AIDS and RH clubs are also relatively strong and functional in private schools. Besides, students of private schools are relatively from families with good educational and economic background compared to students from public schools.

Health sciences students were more likely to be knowledgeable than students in the faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH). This might be due to courses that health science students are taking, such as RH which includes reproductive and sexual rights as a chapter. In addition, they can learn this specific topic in one or another way at least because their instructors are well familiarized and even experts on RH issues. Reproductive health service utilization has impact on the knowledge of reproductive and sexual rights. Students who utilized RH services were more likely to be knowledgeable than those who did not. This finding is in agreement with US study where users of RH services had more inclination towards reproductive health rights, and inconsistent contraceptive use was associated with low sexual assertiveness [15]. The possible explanation can be that since the services are provided by expertise that can give clear and correct information and answer the questions of their clients, utilization of RH services increases the probability of getting counseling and accurate information which has a direct impact on the knowledge of sexual and reproductive rights.