European Education Philanthropy and Its Role in Global Education Governance in a Divided World

• In Event: Funding, Governance, and Peacebuilding in Higher Education: Comparative and Global Perspectives

Proposal

This paper discusses European philanthropy in the context of the broader global education governance landscape. Over the past few decades, private foundations have emerged as significant actors in education, not only providing funding for projects, but also shaping agendas, influencing public policy, and fostering networks of collaboration across borders. Since the adoption of the SDGs in 2015, foundations and other non-state actors were framed as crucial to bridging the education financing gap. However, with global aid to education experiencing sharp declines in 2024 and further cuts projected by 2027 (UNESCO, 2025), the role of private philanthropy as both a financial and epistemic resource has become even more pressing.

Drawing on a mapping exercise of the European philanthropic initiatives in the education sector, this paper examines the trends in funded programs, priority geographies, and the epistemic communities and transnational networks that emerge around them. Using Social Network Analysis (SNA), this paper illustrates how philanthropic organizations act as nodes of connectivity, linking diverse stakeholders and cross-border knowledge flows (Srivastava et al., 2024). The findings reveal that European education philanthropy follows a different approach from the USA-based philanthropic organizations, demonstrating greater reliance on family and private funds, focus on non-formal education and professional training, and investment in building transnational networks.

The mapping exercise also highlights high concentration of foundations registered in Switzerland, aligning with the broader claim that the country has, on average, 15.4 foundations per 10,000 inhabitants (Müller and Geiger, 2025). This finding resonates with longstanding scholarship that identifies Switzerland as a unique philanthropic hub characterized by high civic engagement and an international outlook (von Schnurbein and Bethmann, 2015). Policy analyses further confirm that Swiss philanthropic actors actively contribute to education aid and peace-oriented initiatives, often stepping in where bilateral and multilateral support declines (OECD, 2021). However, these dynamics also raise questions about the balance between private interests and public goods (Ridge and Tandogan, 2025), especially in contexts of global division, where philanthropic actors have the power to both mitigate and reproduce inequalities. Ultimately, can philanthropy truly advance education in a divided world, and how can European foundations leverage their networks to reduce, rather than reinforce, global inequalities?

References
Müller, T., & Geiger, A. (2025, February). Starting a Foundation Project in Switzerland: Key Facts. MME https://mme.ch/hubfs/MME_098_Swiss_Foundation_Key%20Facts_Whitepaper_EN_RZ.pdf
OECD (2021), “Philanthropy and education - Swiss philanthropy for education”, OECD Development Centre, Paris.
Ridge, N., & Tandogan, V. (2025). “Philanthropic Giving to Education: Private Interests versus Public Good”. In R. Lambin, J. Roberts, & R. Surender (Eds.), Handbook on Philanthropy and Social Policy (pp. 61–80). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035309856.00012
Srivastava, P., Matovich, I., Shields, R., & Jadhav, Y. (2024). “Girls’ and Women’s Education in Asia: Exploring Philanthropic Networks”. Comparative Education Review, 68(4), 704–741. https://doi.org/10.1086/728879
UNESCO. (2025). Aid to education: time for tough decisions. https://doi.org/10.54676/UYML4245
von Schnurbein, G., Bethmann, S. (2015). “Giving in Switzerland: High Engagement and International Outreach”. In: Wiepking, P., Handy, F. (Eds.) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Philanthropy. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137341532_16

Authors

• Aiganym Khamitkhanova, Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research

• Rui da Silva, Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research