Higher Education and Global Poverty: University Partnerships and ...

Although no element of the solution—including higher education—is infallible, approaches to poverty reduction certainly need to be reconceptualized through a shift in ideas, policy, and programs. Yunus explained:

Yunus sees the elimination of poverty as solely a matter of will. The success of the Grameen Bank and its program of microfinance is a testimony to the vitality of Yunus’ economic theory. Between 1980 and 2003, for example, the Grameen Bank had invested US$4 billion in microloans (Yunus 2003). Fully 95 percent of the borrowers are women, and an increasing number of loans support students in higher education for the purpose of “moving oneself out of poverty” (Yunus 2003, 236).

The Knowledge Economy

The research and the literature addressing higher education and poverty are steeped in the notion that we live in an increasingly knowledge-based society. The recent focus on the poverty reduction–higher education connection has arisen in conjunction with a renewed interest in knowledge and the economy. Knowledge, economics, and education, however, are not newly compatible components of growth and development. In 1810 the Prussian educational philosopher Wilhelm von Humbolt founded the University of Berlin (now the Humbolt University of Berlin) and put into practice a model of integrating research as a vital component of teaching. With an emphasis on science, Humbolt attempted to position the university to contribute more directly to the economy and to society (Ruegg 2004). In the wake of Humbolt's work, scientific discoveries have