‘Aid’ to higher education in a multiplex world: Exploring the diversity of donor discourses and rationales

Rebecca Schendel, Tessa DeLaquil, Lee Rensimer and Tristan McCowan

International Journal of Educational Development, 2024, vol. 111, issue C

Abstract: The international development landscape is more ‘multiplex’ today than was the case after WWII, when the architecture of international aid was established. A broad range of national, international, multinational, and private organisations now operate within a more interdependent and participatory landscape. Attitudes to aid have also shifted significantly in recent years, due to international agreements around aid ‘effectiveness’ and global events. This article considers how this changing landscape has affected aid to higher education in lower-income contexts. Analysis of the main publicly-facing documents produced by the top 15 funders of higher education in the Global South 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.

Keywords: Higher education; International development; Aid (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059324001895
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:injoed:v:111:y:2024:i:c:s0738059324001895

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2024.103162

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Educational Development is currently edited by Stephen P Heyneman

More articles in International Journal of Educational Development from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().