Published by The Times Higher Education on March 9, 2022
By Ararat Osipian, scholar-member at the New University in Exile Consortium
Osipian argues that while given with good intentions, the World Bank’s loans to Ukrainian universities have been less than effective in improving the higher education system and have exacerbated pre-existing issues of academic corruption. He writes: “The fate of the World Bank’s project – and the money it has already dispensed – is now unclear. But even if it resumes after the Russian invasion is repelled, and even if it sticks to the original timetable, it is unclear that it will make a significant contribution to improving Ukrainian higher education – never mind to the consolidation of Ukrainian statehood.
It would be fair to ask whether, in the end, it amounts to too little, too late.”
