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Paper short abstract:

This paper takes a critical look at the World Bank’s higher education policy. It argues that ignorance serves a strategic role in how the Bank devises its higher education policy and proposes a link to organisational goals and power considerations behind this.

Paper long abstract:

The international development sector’s approach to higher education has shifted fundamentally over the past decades. After years of relative neglect, tertiary education has received growing policy attention from international agencies like the World Bank as producing wide-ranging social and economic benefits. Yet the evidentiary base on its role in development is far from uncontested. This seems at odds with the touting of evidence-based policy making by many development organisations, especially the World Bank. In order to shed light on mechanisms behind the evolution of policy fields in institutions like the World Bank, this paper examines the approach to higher education with a view to how the corresponding evidence is treated. It builds on the idea of a strategic role of ignorance in policy making and asks how the World Bank advocates investing in higher education despite ambiguous evidence on its benefits. While the original concept of strategic ignorance assumes a state of true “not knowing” can be maintained, this essay develops it further for a context of evidence-based policy making, drawing on critical policy studies as well as international political economy. Through uncovering major discursive formations in the Bank’s argument for investment in higher education and scrutinising their evidentiary base, the paper shows that various forms of ignorance, ranging from more to less active, serve a strategic purpose in helping the Bank make its case. The observed patterns are viewed in relation to the Bank’s organisational structure and goals, suggesting that power considerations may take precedence over calls for evidence-based policy making.