Ghosts in Global Higher Education Partnerships

Uncovering North-South Hidden Dynamics

Abstract

Global partnerships in higher education are frequently celebrated as vehicles for global progress and mutual benefit. However, this celebratory discourse often masks ‘ghosts’, that is, persistent, systemic dynamics that reproduce colonial hierarchies and entrench power imbalances. This article critically examines five such ghosts: the assumption of universal scalability in the ‘What-Went-Right’ approach, the performative politics of representation, the restrictive economics of eligibility, the donor-receiver projection template, and the intellectual gatekeeping of the ‘usual suspects’. By moving beyond descriptive reflection toward a position of ethics, inclusivity, and accountability, this article argues that to move beyond these ghosts, academics, practitioners, and funders must actively confront the structural and financial architectures that sustain them.