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Exploring the shifting perspectives of donors to higher education in the Global South

Mon, March 24, 4:30 to 5:45pm, Palmer House, Floor: 3rd Floor, Salon 4

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

After decades of relative neglect from international organizations and donor agencies, higher education is now widely accepted as a crucial institution for both economic and social development (Schendel and McCowan, 2022; McCowan, 2019). Even in contexts where universal primary education remains elusive, higher education is understood to play a vital role in the training of high skilled professionals, the incubation of basic and applied research that can address local and global challenges, and the development and uptake of new technology, among other benefits. This latter role is becoming increasingly important in the context of a widening digital divide both within and across national contexts. The positioning of higher education as a stated priority in the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals is testament to the international consensus around its importance (Unterhalter and Howell, 2021), as is the high level of donor support for higher education in lower-income contexts across the past few decades – both directly, e.g. via projects and initiatives impacting higher education institutions, and indirectly, e.g. via the students attending institutions and/or the research being conducted within them (Rensimer and McCowan, 2023).

Relatedly, scholarly analysis of the dynamics underpinning donor-recipient relationships in the higher education sector has also experienced a bit of a renaissance in recent decades. As a result, there is now wide understanding of the power imbalances that often inhibit the effective work of institutional partnerships, the often negative impacts on low-income countries of mobility flows from Global South to North as a result of higher education scholarships, and the lop-sided nature of donor-recipient relationships, which often result in the prioritization of agendas benefiting the Global North, at the expense of recipients in the South (e.g. Galán-Muros et al 2022; Knight, 2022; Chankseliani et al, 2021; Heleta and Bagus, 2021; Obamba and Mwema 2009; Brennan and Naidoo, 2008).

What remains relatively under-researched is the ways in which recent changes in the global world order have impacted these dynamics. The world today is widely understood to be multipolar and multiplex (Acharya, 2017). Old hegemonies are no longer absolute, and new actors – including private sector companies and former recipient governments who now work as donors – have an increasing influence. An increased emphasis on mutuality, sovereignty and partnership, particularly following the international accords on aid effectiveness in Paris and Accra, has also impacted at least the discourse of international, regional and national organizations in other sectors (Hasselskog, 2022; Schaaf, 2015). The question that arises is what impact these recent changes have had on the discourse and practice of “aid” for higher education.

This panel offers some initial answers to this question via a series of intersecting presentations. The first presentation offers a global overview of donor rationales and conceptualizations of “aid” to higher education, via an analysis of documents produced by the top 15 donors to higher education, according to the OECD Creditor Reporting System. Supplemented by findings from key informant interviews at the top bilateral donors, multilateral agencies and private foundations, the opening paper sets the scene for the subsequent papers, which will focus more explicitly on newer donors who are themselves based in the Global South. The second paper presents the findings of a literature review on South-South cooperation in higher education; the third dives more specifically into the case of China and its work in Africa (via an analysis of FOCAC Action Plans); and the fourth examines the case of Brazil, a country which only recently shifted from being a recipient to a donor nation in the higher education sector. Following the four formal presentations, a discussant will offer some reactions from the perspective of a recipient government, aiming to navigate the complexities of a multiplex “aid” environment. In the final 30 minutes of the session, the chair will facilitate discussion between the panelists on a few topics of mutual interest, before opening up the session to dialogue with the wider audience in attendance. The aim of the panel is to present some new empirical evidence on the “state of the field” of aid to higher education today and to stimulate discussion around the opportunities and challenges that are now arising in this space.

Sub Unit

Chair

Individual Presentations

Discussant