In 1950, the Sisters of Mercy opened Mercy Junior College in Tarrytown, New York for younger members of their order. In 1961, with financial assistance from the Rockefeller family, they relaunched it as a private 4-year institution for women at a new complex in Dobbs Ferry. From 1911 onward, however, the Rockefellers had a complex relationship…

When the Carnegie Foundation was established in 1905, universities in Canada and Newfoundland were eligible for grants, on strict conditions that were seen by some as "colonial," "continentalist," or "imperial" intrusions on autonomy; for example, a Carnegie plan to create a federation of Maritime universities. This…

This article analyzes the role of the Julius Rosenwald Fund in shaping the career of W. Allison Davis, a distinguished anthropologist who became the first African American appointed to the faculty of a mostly white university. From 1928 to 1948, the Rosenwald Fund ran an expansive fellowship program for African American intellectuals, which,…

This paper explores the unheeded religious roots of the modern conviction to standardised, scientific education policy and its inherent sciento-social epistemology. In doing so, it traces the discursive roots of this hierarchical but non-governmental idea of social governance from its 16th century Scottish Presbyterian predecessors to its…

This qualitative case investigation considers the historical, inter-provincial proliferation of university Crown foundations across Canada from 1984 to 1998. From the findings of over 40 interviews conducted between 2014 and 2017 and document analysis, this study uses a conceptual framework of policy entrepreneurship and institutionalism to…

Once referred to as "the most maligned musical instrument on earth," the harmonica holds an important historical place in music education as an instrument around which bands were formed, solo and ensemble competitions were held, and in some cases, careers were born. Much of this activity centered itself on city recreation programs as…

Background/Context: The traditional literature on the history of higher education in the United States focuses on linear explanations of the inexorable growth of the size, mission, and importance of colleges and universities. That approach ignores or minimizes a recurrent strain of discontent with the higher education sector, especially from…

In the decades around the turn of the 20th century, American business leaders took their first sustained interest in higher education. This historical article, based on archival analysis, challenges the traditional understanding of these wealthy individuals' philanthropy as either passive or ill-intentioned. Using Andrew Carnegie as a case study,…

At the time of African independence, the concept of higher education for development took hold in the programmes of the new African governments and in the aid projects of the former colonial powers, the United States, the USSR, and international organisations. All agreed on the need to place higher education at the service of Africa's development…

Beginning in the nineteenth century, a plethora of western Christian and secular philanthropies introduced "top-down" philanthropic initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa to promote education and "development". There seems to be a complex link between the agendas of international philanthropies and their home governments' broader…

Over fifty years ago, Merle Curti sought to open up the academic study of philanthropy - the phenomenon of voluntary giving for public purposes - or what historians and reformers have commonly called "neighborliness," "beneficence," or simply, as translated from the Greek word "philanthropia," "love of…

In 2010, as the result of a congressionally mandated study, the National Research Council (NRC) published the report "Preparing Teachers: Building Evidence for Sound Policy" (NRC, 2010). Reflecting the unprecedented attention to teacher quality that had emerged internationally in response to the exigencies of the "global knowledge…

The purpose of this paper is to fill the void in academic literature concerning the transition from the King Abdullah Scholarship Program (KASP) to the current Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques' Overseas Scholarship Program. Based on a review of published news accounts and of announcements made by Saudi sources, Saudi official documents and…

This paper examines an "experimental" program in African American adult education that took place at the Harlem branch of the New York Public Library in the early 1930s. The program, called the Harlem Experiment, brought together a group of white funders (the Carnegie Corporation and the American Association for Adult Education)--who…

In 2015, the High Council for Education, Training and Scientific Research of Morocco announced its strategic plan for the next 25 years. Among the goals is 'the institutionalisation and standardisation of preschool education'. The identification of early childhood education as a national priority for the country represents a tremendous change in…