circumstances in Thailand pointed to an increased ambivalence toward the World Bank, as indicated by the country's decreased borrowing record. This trend away from borrowing, coupled with the country's ambivalence, in some ways mirrors Thailand's history of avoiding colonization, a fate that many of its Southeast Asian neighbors could not avoid.
The second phase of the study continued in Kampala, the largest city in Uganda, and in the city's surrounding areas. I quickly discovered that more time was required to establish rapport there than had been necessary in Bangkok, due in part to skepticism among people in Kampala regarding my role as a researcher. It took days to schedule and reschedule meetings for interviews for a variety of reasons, one of which was the cultural clash between my own linear conception of time and my hosts’ nonlinear view. Nevertheless, Ugandan culture was equally as beautiful as Thailand's culture, and my experience there was valuable despite the complications I encountered. I conducted insightful interviews with professors who had experienced major budget cuts at universities during the implementation of SAPs and who are now working on new projects funded by World Bank loans. In Kampala I encountered a greater disdain for past World Bank actions and skepticism about some of the current projects. One professor summed up the general attitude with the comment, “We take the food and damn the consequences.” Just as the general Thai approach reflects the fact that Thailand was never a colonial subject, the prevailing outlook in Kampala in some ways mirrors Uganda's history—in this case, as a colony under British authority. Issues of dependence even today raise concerns about colonialism. All of the Ugandan MOE officials and university professors were extremely insightful, and I am grateful for their participation in the study.
The final phase of the investigation into the role of higher education in international development took a turn away from the direct work of World Bank lending policy. In search of an example of a collaborative cross-border partnership between universities, I found an example of two U.S. universities working with a flagship university in Rwanda through sponsorship funds from the United States Agency for International