“Aiding” higher education in a multiplex world: Exploring the diversity of donor discourses and rationales in the higher education sector

• In Event: Exploring the shifting perspectives of donors to higher education in the Global South

Proposal

The world today is more ‘multiplex’ than was the case after WWII, when the architecture of international aid was established. The US hegemony, established in the mid-20th century and solidified through the collapse of the Soviet Union, while still in place, has been weakened by the emergence of new centers of power, most notably China, leading to a more multipolar world. Acharya (2017) points to three key factors of change: regionalism (the European Union being the most prominent example), the emergence of new powers (e.g. BRICS), and the rise of ‘global civil society’ and transnational movements. This ‘multiplex’ world contains multiple significant actors at play across national, regional, and supranational levels, including nation states, international, multinational, and regional governmental, non-governmental, and private organizations, within a more interdependent economic and political space. This multiplicity is certainly evident in the sphere of international aid, now characterized by a number of new bilateral donors (e.g. China, Türkiye, the Arabian Gulf states) and private foundations (e.g. Gates Foundation, MasterCard Foundation) in addition to the traditional Western and multilateral organizations.

Attitudes to aid have also shifted significantly in recent years, due both to international agreements around aid “effectiveness” and to global events. Mawdsley et al. (2018), for instance, have argued that, since the 2007-2008 financial crisis, although the quantity of aid has surprisingly not been reduced, there has been a qualitative shift away from the pro-poor focus of the 1990s towards ideas of ‘shared prosperity’ and explicit self-interest to bolster private sector trade, a phenomenon they refer to as “retroliberalism”. Interestingly, this change means that traditional donors are now acting more like newer Southern donors in blurring the lines between aid and trade/investment.

Despite extensive discussion of these broader dynamics, little is known about how this changing landscape has affected support to higher education in less-resourced parts of the world. Has support for higher education become correspondingly multiplex or is it still dominated by the traditional donors? And has the arrival of new actors shifted or simply reproduced the underpinning logic?

This presentation explores these questions by presenting the findings of a qualitative study, which focused on the top funders of higher education in low- and middle-income countries between 2015 and 2019 (identified via the OECD Creditor Reporting System). The study - comprising both document review and key informant interviews with organizational representatives - explored four main aspects of donor support: rationales for supporting higher education, the roles assumed by donor agencies, how funding for higher education is conceptualized and what modalities of support are employed. Additionally, we ask how the concept of ‘aid’ has changed over time within the different types of donor organizations.

Our analysis reveals a significant discursive shift away from traditional understandings of ‘aid’, while also pointing to entrenched norms and hierarchies that persist, despite this rhetorical change. The findings offer a timely reflection on the roles assumed by funders of higher education in LMICs and on the position of higher education within broader development agendas around the world.

Authors

• Rebecca Schendel, Boston College

• Tessa DeLaquil, University College Dublin

• Lee Rensimer, IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society

• Tristan McCowan, University College London