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

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.