Gates in Europe: Where the funding goes and why
Our research on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation threw up one very revelatory fact to us. According to our analysis, 90% of all Gates Foundation giving goes to universities in North America and Western Europe. 74% roughly goes to the US and Canada, while 16% of all Gates Foundation university giving goes to Europe, making it the second biggest region after North America. (Africa is the third biggest region, receiving just under 4% of #GatesFoundation university giving).
We identified 85 universities in Europe which have received nearly $940m in funding from the #GatesFoundation between 2014-18. The UK is the Gates Foundation favourite destination for university giving, outside the US. 38 UK universities shared $743m. In other words the lion’s share of all Gates funding to European universities goes to UK institutions.
The University of Oxford is the biggest beneficiary of Gates Foundation university funding in Europe and, therefore, the UK and it is the second biggest non-US beneficiary globally. Between 2014-18, the top 3 university beneficiaries of European giving were all British – the University of Oxford ($167m), Imperial College ($133m) and the London School of Tropical Medicine received ($131m).
There are a couple of other noteworthy facts that was surfaced in our research about Gates Foundation funding to Europe. The first is that giving by the Gates Foundation to universities in Europe is entirely focused on Western Europe. Universities in Central and Eastern Europe do not appear to benefit from Gates giving. In fact, the further West in Europe you go, the less the distribution of money.
The top 5 European country beneficiaries of Gates direct university giving between 2014-18 are: UK – 38 universities received $743m Netherlands - 7 universities received $50m Spain – 3 universities received $45m. Belgium – 5 universities received $43m Switzerland - 7 universities received $26m
The vast majority of funding to UK universities appears to go to projects related to Gates global health programme, such as vaccine research etc. In contrast, in the Netherlands the majority of funding appears to go towards agricultural research programmes.
The other big surprise to us was the relatively small sums that go to either French or German universities – both of which have world-class higher education institutions and fine traditions of outstanding scientific research. We calculated around $15m went to five German universities and around $3m to two French universities – a tiny fraction of Gates total giving to European universities. So why the imbalance?
One explanation could be an unwitting focus towards institutions which are operational - and therefore research is presented - in English. Another could be that universities in the UK are much more geared up to forging relationships with funding institutions such as Gates, and align their research to its objectives. Whatever the explanation, there is clearly an advantage to being an Anglo-Saxon institution to benefit from funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.