This book offers a nuanced analysis of a US-led foundation initiative of
uncommon ambition, featuring seven foundations with a shared commitment
to strengthen capacity in higher education in Sub-Saharan African
universities. The book examines the conditions under which philanthropy
can be effective, the impasses that foundations often face, and the
novel context in which philanthropy operates today. This study therefore
assesses the shifting grounds on which higher education globally is
positioned and the role of global philanthropy within these changing
contexts. This is especially important in a moment where higher
education is once again recognized as a driver of development and income
growth, where knowledge economies requiring additional levels of
education are displacing economies predicated on manufacturing, and in a
context where higher education itself appears increasingly precarious
and under dramatic pressures to adapt to new conditions.