Can Higher Education Partnerships Teach a Person to Fish?

A pivotal question currently receiving much attention is whether international education cooperation moves developing countries toward greater autonomy or dependency. (See for example the April 2004 edition of the Journal of International Cooperation in Education.) A common theme in the literature describes the paradox of supplying help to self-help efforts. A number of solutions to this paradox have been offered by various authors. This article discusses the paradox and possible solutions, and then proposes that carefully constructed higher education partnerships offer a format that incorporates these solutions. Several South African-U.S. partnership projects are discussed to provide insights into the implementation successful partnerships and to glean lessons learned.