Knowledge aid as instrument of regulation: World Bank's non-lending higher education support for Ethiopia

Abstract

In the context of low-income countries, the role of donors in public policymaking is of great importance. Donors use a combination of lending and non-lending instruments as pathways of influence to shape policy directions in aid-recipient countries. This paper reports some findings from a doctoral study on the role of the World Bank in the recent higher education (HE) policy reform process in Ethiopia. It focuses on the nature and impact of non-lending assistance by the Bank to the Ethiopian HE subsystem. Based on an interpretive policy analysis of sector reviews and advisory activities of the Bank, and selected national HE policy documents, the following findings are highlighted. First, as a ‘knowledge institution’, the World Bank produces, systematises and disseminates knowledge through policy advice, policy reports, analytical sector reviews, and thematic conferences and workshops. Second, knowledge aid from the Bank not only has a profound discursive effect on shaping Ethiopian HE policy reform priorities in accordance with its neoliberal educational agenda but also undermines the knowledge production capacity of the nation. The paper also argues that, for an effective education policy support, the Bank needs to shift its modality of engagement from knowledge aid to research capacity building.

Acknowledgements

I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to Professor Denise Cuthbert (doctoral supervisor, RMIT University), Professor Michael Crossley (University of Bristol) and Professor Michele Schweisfurth (University of Glasgow) for their valuable feedback and insightful comments on earlier versions of this paper.

Notes on contributor

Tebeje Molla is an educational sociologist with research interests in transnational education policy, educational development aid, and social justice in and through education. He has submitted his doctoral thesis to the School of Political and Social Inquiry, Monash University.

Notes

1. In sub-Saharan Africa, the list of such events organised in the last 10 years includes: Improving Tertiary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Things That Work (23–25 September 2003, Accra, Ghana); Higher Education for Francophone Africa's Development (13–15 June 2006, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso); Cost and Financing of Tertiary Education in Francophone Africa: Training Session (2–4 July 2007, Cotonou, Benin); African Union AMCOST (African Ministerial Council on Science and Technology) Meeting (12–16 November 2007, Mombasa, Kenya); International Conference on Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Africa (15–17 September 2008, Dakar, Senegal); Capacity Building Workshop on the Licence-Master-Doctorate (LMD) Reform for Francophone Countries (19–20 September 2008, Saint Louis, Senegal); The Partnership for Higher Education in Africa (PHEA) University Leadership Forum (23–25 November 2008, Accra, Ghana); 12th General Conference of the Association of African Universities (on Sustainable Development in Africa: The Role of Higher Education) (4–5 May 2009, Abuja, Nigeria); Conference of Ministers of Education in Africa (COMEDAF IV) (24–25 September 2009, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia); National Conference on World-Class Universities (27 September 2010, Abuja, Nigeria); and Workshop on Sustainable Financing and Governance of Regional Initiatives in Higher Education in Africa (21 March 2011, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso).

2. Members of the Committee were prominent international scholars of Ethiopian Studies. The list includes: Jon Abbink (Netherlands), Ivo Strecker (Chair, Germany), Sevir Chernetsov (Russia), Irma Taddia (Italy), Christopher Clapham (Great Britain), Kjetil Tronvoll (Norway), Donald Crummey (Co-Chair, USA), Serge Tornay (France), Eisei Kurimoto (Japan), Alessandro Triulzi (Italy) and Donald Levine (USA). The letters to the Ministry of Education and to the Foreign Embassies in Addis Ababa can be found, respectively, at http://fp.okstate.edu/vestal/Ethiopia/ieusc_statements.htm; and http://fp.okstate.edu/vestal/BookReview/crisis_in_ethiopian_universities.htm