Global Education Partnerships

📢 USAID Withdrawal: A Turning Point for Global Education & Skills Development 🎯The recent dismantling of USAID – the world’s second largest bilateral education donor (after the EU 🇪🇺) – marks an unprecedented crisis for education and workforce development worldwide. This report by the European Training Foundation (ETF) examines its implications and outlines urgent policy responses. Here are the key takeaways: 🔍 Why it matters ▪️USAID managed over $1 billion annually for global education, including primary education, vocational training, and higher education. ▪️It funded 396 programmes in 58 countries, making it a cornerstone of SDG 4 (quality education for all). ▪️Its withdrawal jeopardises decades of progress in access, equity, and learning outcomes. 📊 What USAID delivered ✅ Primary education: Supported 246M students in 53 countries with early grade reading programmes, teacher training, and materials in local languages. ✅ Skills & workforce development: Funded vocational pathways for out-of-school youth and secondary-level learners. ✅ Higher education: Strengthened institutional capacity, research, and youth leadership through scholarships and partnerships. ✅ Multilateral impact: Major contributor to GPE and ECW, and a thought leader in global education research. ⚠️ What’s at stake ❌ 83% of USAID programmes cancelled, including those for girls, refugees, and marginalised learners. ❌ Reversed progress toward SDG 4, higher dropout rates, and widening gender gaps. ❌ Economic risk: Reduced workforce readiness → higher youth unemployment → instability. ❌ Geopolitical shift: Other players (e.g., China) may fill gaps, but their current funding is far smaller ($2.85B vs USAID’s scale). 🌍 The EU’s strategic opportunity ▪️ Scale up Global Gateway (€300B) for digital education & infrastructure. ▪️ Strengthen Team Europe Initiatives (TEIs) to align with national Education Sector Plans. ▪️ Mobilise private capital via innovative finance (e.g., social impact bonds). ▪️ Protect vulnerable learners and maintain evidence-based interventions. 📍 PERSONAL NOTE AND CLARIFICATION ON DONOR LEADERSHIP: ▪️ The EU 🇪🇺 and its Member States are the largest global donors for education, not the U.S. as mentioned in this report. ▪️ The EU collectively provides over one-third of global education ODA, ensuring strong multilateral support. ▪️ By contrast, the U.S. 🇺🇸 contribution has averaged 11–16% over the last decade. ▪️ This reinforces the EU’s strategic role in stepping up to fill gaps left by USAID’s withdrawal. 📌 Without urgent, coordinated responses, millions risk losing access to quality education and skills development. #EducationForAll #SDG4 #GlobalEducation Dr. Pilvi Torsti EU Employment and Skills Cedefop EfVET European Association of Institutes for Vocational Training (EVBB) European Vocational Training Association - EVTA EURASHE eucen CoP CoVEs UNESCO-UNEVOC International Labour Organization OECD Education and Skills

📸✨ Education abroad delivers the ultimate Instagram moments, but the real benefit endures for the duration of one's career. In addition to epic photos and unforgettable stories, students can also return with contextual and cultural agility—a powerful blend of human skills like humility, resilience, and curiosity. These are the skills that will help future-proof their careers. There’s a caveat, though: this kind of growth isn’t automatic. The international experience must be intentionally designed to foster development. Without that structure, the transformation risks staying at the surface level. In the recent AACSB Insights article, Melissa Torres, Marissa Lombardi and I highlight three key features that should be intentionally integrated into education abroad programs to foster development: ✅ Stretch: Students should be immersed in unfamiliar cultural settings that challenge their preconceived notions and encourage them to navigate new social and professional norms. ✅ Connect: Building meaningful relationships with individuals from different cultures helps students adjust their communication, leadership, and teamwork styles, enhancing their interpersonal skills. ✅ Reflect: Encouraging students to reflect on their experiences allows them to recognize and understand the deeper cultural differences that may not be immediately apparent, fostering humility and resilience. Check out the full article here: https://lnkd.in/e453bs4J The article underscores that these experiences must be intentionally designed to promote personal and professional growth. Without this, the potential benefits of studying abroad may not be fully realized. #GlobalLeadership #CulturalAgility #EducationAbroad #TransformativeLearning #FutureOfWork #InterculturalCompetence The Forum on Education Abroad Skiilify

🧠 A 25-year international collaboration has just launched to map the #brains of primates (including us = human primates) in unprecedented detail as reported in this Science Magazine article. 🗣️ "𝐼𝐶𝑃𝐵𝑀 [the consortium] 𝑠𝑜 𝑓𝑎𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐴𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑎, 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑎, 𝐺𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦, 𝐻𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑎𝑟𝑦, 𝐼𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑎, 𝑆𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ 𝐾𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑎, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑆𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑛. 𝑇𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑎 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑈.𝑆. 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛, 𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑈.𝑆. 𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 100 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 25 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠. " Led by China, this initiative is not just another brain atlas project It combines structural mapping = ultra-high-resolution 3D reconstructions of brain circuits/networks down to the synapse! This includes cell-type profiling and evolutionary comparisons, creating a comprehensive reference for how primate brains are wired and evolve. For the #neurotech geek that I am this is brain candy! What makes this project especially ambitious is its scale and openness: imaging centers in Suzhou, Hainan, and Shenzhen will produce petabytes of data to be shared globally. This isn't about functional brain activity (like fMRI or EEG); it’s about the anatomical and cellular structure of the brain: the physical architecture that underlies cognition, emotion, and behavior. With applications in AI, medicine, and evolutionary biology, this “big science” model could redefine how we study the brain and how countries collaborate to do so. 🌏 But (once again) geopolitics might interfere with science ... 💡 Some #ScienceDiplomacy work for you Marga Gual Soler, PhD?) MBZUAI (Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence) I Inclusive Brains I Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi I Institute for Artificial Intelligence by Biotech Dental (IAI by BD) I Biotech Dental I Allen Institute for Brain Science I Human Brain ProjectI Chan Zuckerberg Initiative I National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) I Inria I Karolinska Institutet I Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology I Max Planck Institute for Brain Research I CNRS I INSERM I UNESCO I OECD - OCDE I World Economic Forum I GESDA - Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator #AI #Neuroscience #BrainMapping #Connectome #Neuroanatomy #Neurotech #Research #MBZUAI #HCI 🔗 https://lnkd.in/ez4cEUDX

Why only the city centers? Great minds are everywhere, chances are not — that must change. Today, 79 foreign language learning centers operate nationwide through the “Ko‘mak” program - including remote and underserved regions where access to quality education was once limited. Through interest free loans of up to $10,000, young educators and entrepreneurs are empowered to establish new centers, create jobs, and bring global skills directly to their communities. The program is designed with clear standards to ensure quality and impact. Applicants must: • Hold a C1 level international language certificate • Establish centers specifically in designated remote or underserved areas • Focus on high demand global languages These requirements ensure that expansion is not only wide, but strong and sustainable. So far: • 408 projects approved • $4.19 million allocated • 79 new centers launched • Thousands of students gaining access to foreign languages Languages are not just subjects. They are gateways to international universities, competitive careers, entrepreneurship, and new markets. Our vision is clear: expand opportunity to every region and ensure that talent is not limited by location. When opportunity reaches rural districts and small communities, the entire nation becomes more competitive, more confident, and more globally connected. The real question is not whether talent exists outside major cities. It does. The real question is: how do we continue building systems that unlock it everywhere? #EducationForAll #YouthEmpowerment #AccessToEducation #LanguageEducation #SkillsDevelopment #RegionalDevelopment #EqualOpportunity #SocialImpact

In times of growing scientific nationalism, it is really amazing to see what we can be achieved when collaboration, at the global level, is at the center of stage. This week, Nature Medicine and Nature Aging published a first series of studies from the Global Neurodegeneration Proteomics Consortium. Collectively, these studies shed light on unique protein biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases and the aging process. The findings pave the way for clinical advances in early detection and improve outcomes of major neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. 🧠 In the flagship paper, Farhad Imam and cols from the GNPC present one of the world's largest proteomic datasets, including approximately 250 million unique protein measurements from over 35,000 biofluid samples, such as blood plasma and cerebrospinal fluid. These samples were provided by 23 research communities globally and include associated clinical data. From this, the authors identified specific proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Three associated papers from the GNPC demonstrate how analyses of this dataset can be applied to address key questions in neurodegenerative disease and ageing research. 🧠 Carlos Cruchaga and cols identified disease-specific plasma biomarker profiles and a protein signature across Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and frontotemporal dementia, and revealed distinct and shared mechanisms, highlighting potential regulatory proteins and pathways for diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. 🧠 Caitlin Finney, Artur Shvetcov and cols identified a cerebrospinal fluid and plasma protein signature associated with carriers of the APOE ε4 allele, a known genetic variant that increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease, and suggest that this variant has a broader role in other neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson's disease, frontotemporal dementia, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. 🧠 Tony Wyss-Coray and cols identified age-related changes in proteins that correlate with cognitive function, offering new insights into how changes in protein levels in the cerebrospinal fluid and plasma are associated with cognitive health. 🌍 Bill Gates, co-founder and chair of the Gates Ventures, who co-funded the consortium, writes in a corresponding World View "We are closer than ever to the day when a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease stops being a death sentence... The Global Neurodegeneration Proteomics Consortium (GNPC) is a perfect example of what is possible when scientists around the world work together." 🌏 Boris Decourt and cols put the work in context in an excellent News & Views; and the GNPC team gives us the insider of view of how this collaborative project came together in a Comment piece in Nature Aging. #neurodegeneration #alzheimers #parkinsons #dementia #brainhealth #aging Link to the collection in comments 👇

We've been working with the Global Biodata Coalition over the last couple of years to help tackle the challenge of sustaining biodata infrastructure. This week's news about model organism databases shows exactly why that work matters - and how quickly critical research infrastructure can collapse. Model organism databases rarely make headlines, but they have underpinned decades of scientific discoveries. FlyBase curates data for an estimated 4,000+ Drosophila researchers worldwide. WormBase supports over 1,400 active research labs globally. The Saccharomyces Genome Database serves the yeast research community with queries running into millions annually. In May, FlyBase lost its entire 8-person team when Harvard's federal funding was frozen and the Saccharomyces Genome Database reports finances "strained" to breaking point. Wormbase announced October would be its last major update as it transitions into the Alliance of Genome Resources. This reinforces a point I see playing out across the entire research ecosystem: scale and collaboration are no longer optional. From national research strategies and international funding partnerships, through university shared services and research consortia, right down to individual databases and collaborative networks - the modern research system depends on collective infrastructure and coordinated effort that transcend national and institutional boundaries. Yet even as research challenges demand greater collaboration and scale, the wider geopolitical environment increasingly favours fragmentation and national self-sufficiency. Are we building research collaborations robust enough to swim against this tide - or are we watching the foundations of global science erode one database at a time? https://lnkd.in/eGn5xuYM #ResearchInfrastructure #OpenScience #Biodata #ScholComm #ResearchPolicy

Most people think “fully funded opportunities = Master’s or PhD scholarships.” I recently spoke about the dynamics of fully funded opportunities, and my submission was dismissed mainly because it didn’t fit that narrow framing. It was viewed only through the lens of Master’s and PhD scholarships until I had to step in and educate them. Fully funded doesn’t just mean study abroad. It means learning, traveling, researching, building, and leading without paying out of pocket across many pathways. Fully funded opportunities you should know about • Fellowships – Programs focused on leadership, academic, or professional development, often with mentorship, training, and global exposure. • Exchange Programs – Short- or long-term cultural, academic, or professional exchanges with travel, accommodation, and institutional placements covered. • Leadership Programs – Bootcamps, workshops, networking, and sometimes international placements for emerging leaders. • Research Grants – Funding for research, fieldwork, innovation, or academic projects, covering travel, data collection, equipment, and stipends. • Fully Funded Conferences – Global convenings where flights, accommodation, and registration are covered. • Youth Delegations – Opportunities to represent your country or organization at global dialogues, gaining diplomatic exposure and policy experience. • Accelerator Programs – For entrepreneurs and innovators, offering seed funding, mentorship, business development, and market access. • Think Tank & Policy Programs – Immersive programs focused on governance, development, and policy, with hands-on policy experience and mentorship. • Incubators – Support for idea-stage founders through mentorship, training, workspace, and small funding or stipends. • Residencies (Artistic or Professional) – Funded time and space for creatives, writers, researchers, and innovators to work and present their work. • Study Tours & Immersion Programs – Short-term experiential learning trips with full travel coverage and institutional exposure. • Capacity-Building & Training Programs – Skill-focused programs in areas like climate, diplomacy, AI, education, or development. • Innovation Challenges & Competitions – Fully sponsored pitch events, prize money, mentorship, and exposure. • Short Courses & Executive Programs – Fully funded professional training with tuition waived, travel support, and certificates. • Volunteer & Service Programs – Opportunities to serve while receiving accommodation, stipends, and global experience. • Country-Sponsored Global Programs – Government-funded initiatives offering scholarships, leadership training, and diplomatic exposure. • Policy Labs & Innovation Labs – Spaces to test real-world policy solutions with funding, mentorship, and access to policymakers. Fully funded opportunities are everywhere and they come in more forms than most people realize. Don’t limit yourself to only “scholarships.” Explore widely.

Our latest open-access study finds that while the short-term impact of international education is limited, its long-term effects are transformative. Key Findings: • In the short term, international student mobility shows no significant effect on poverty reduction. • However, over a 15-year period, a clear link emerges: more outbound students lead to less extreme poverty in their home countries. This highlights the systemic potential of international higher education to contribute to societal change. As students return, they bring new ideas, skills, and networks that stimulate innovation, improve governance, and drive economic growth—contributing to sustainable development. This research underscores the importance of supporting students from low-income backgrounds. International mobility isn't just a personal journey—it’s a pathway to broader social transformation. Policy Implication: Expanding access to international higher education, especially through scholarships, should be a priority for poverty reduction strategies. Read the full open-access paper here: https://lnkd.in/e-HMiD8F #HigherEducation #GlobalDevelopment #PovertyReduction #SustainableDevelopment #InternationalEducation #StudentMobility #OpenScience #OpenAccess

The dismantling of USAID earlier this year has created an unprecedented crisis in global education and skills development 📉 For decades, USAID has been the largest bilateral donor to education, investing over $1 billion annually in foundational learning, vocational training, and higher education. Its abrupt withdrawal has meant nearly 400 programmes cancelled across 58 countries. The immediate impacts are stark: 1️⃣ Girls, refugees, and marginalised learners losing vital support 2️⃣ Rising dropout rates and widening inequality 3️⃣ Declining workforce readiness and economic prospects 4️⃣ Geopolitical shifts, with few able to match USAID’s scale Yet the new European Training Foundation report I’ve linked in the comments also highlights a strategic opportunity. The EU, through its Global Gateway initiative and Team Europe approach, can step into a leadership role. Other donors and philanthropic actors must also adapt. And critically, partner governments need to diversify funding and prioritise domestic education budgets to reduce reliance on external aid. This is a moment to rethink how education is funded and supported. Without decisive action, decades of progress risk being undone. With the right leadership at global, regional and national levels, this crisis could also become an opportunity to build more resilient and inclusive education systems for the future 🌍📘 (Link in comments)

Establishing international cooperation is essential for effectively tackling #rice false smut disease, a significant fungal threat to global rice production. The disease, caused by Ustilaginoidea virens, reduces yield and affects rice quality, impacting food security in regions heavily reliant on rice as a staple crop. Since the fungus spreads through multiple pathways and is influenced by climatic conditions, coordinated research and information-sharing across borders are crucial to understanding its epidemiology and developing resistant rice varieties. It is very timely that International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is coordinating global scientific community to establish an international rice false smut consortium (IRFSC) for collaborative research on rice false smut. The consortium aims to elucidate the core of host-pathogen interaction mechanisms, establish standard screening protocol & evaluation methods, and provide capacity-building support. By fostering collaboration, countries can pool resources, share best practices, and implement standardized management strategies, ultimately strengthening the global response to this disease and safeguarding a critical food resource.