the southeastern library network (solinet) to assist libraries in louisiana and mississippi on the gulf coast, many of which were damaged or destroyed by hurricanes katrina and rita. education a key aspect of the gates foundation's u.s. efforts involves an overhaul of the country's education policies at both the k-12 and college levels, including support for teacher evaluations and charter schools and opposition to seniority-based layoffs and other aspects of the education system that are typically backed by teachers' unions. it spent $373 million on education in 2009. it has also donated to the two largest national teachers' unions. the foundation was the biggest early backer of the common core state standards initiative. in october 2017 it was announced that the bill and melinda gates foundation would spend more than $1.7 billion over five years to pay for new initiatives in public education. one of the foundation's goals is to lower poverty by increasing the number of college graduates in the united states, and the organization has funded "reimagining aid design and delivery" grants to think tanks and advocacy organizations to produce white papers on ideas for changing the current system of federal financial aid for college students, to increase graduation rates. one of the ways the foundation has sought to increase the number of college graduates is to get them through college faster, but that idea has received some pushback from organizations of universities and colleges. as part of its education-related initiatives, the foundation has funded journalists, think tanks, lobbying organizations, and governments. millions of dollars of grants to news organizations have funded reporting on education and higher education, including more than $1.4 million to the education writers association to fund training for journalists who cover education. some of the foundation's educational initiatives have included: gates cambridge scholarships: in 2000, the gates foundation donated $210 million to help outstanding graduate students from the u.s. and around the world to study at the prestigious university of cambridge. the gates cambridge scholarship has often been compared to the rhodes scholarship given its international scope and substantial endowment. the scholarship remains extremely competitive with just 0.3% of applicants being selected. each year, approximately 100 new graduate students from around the world receive funding to attend cambridge university. several buildings at the university of cambridge also bear the name of william and melinda gates after sizable contributions to their construction. cambridge university cornell university: received $25 million from the foundation for a new information science building, named "bill and melinda gates hall". the total cost of the building was estimated at $60 million. construction began in march 2012 and officially opened in january 2014. massachusetts institute of technology: part of the ray and maria stata center is known as the "gates tower" in recognition of partial funding of the building. carnegie mellon university: the foundation gave $20 million to the carnegie mellon school of computer science for a new computer science building called the "gates center for computer science". it officially opened on september 22, 2009. smaller schools: the gates foundation claims one in five students is unable to read and grasp the contents of what they read, and african american and latino students are graduating high school with the skills of a middle school student. gates foundation has invested more than $250 million in grants to create new small schools, reduce student-to-teacher ratios, and to divide up large high schools through the schools-within-a-school model. d.c. achievers scholarships: the gates foundation announced march 22, 2007, a $122 million initiative to send hundreds of the district of columbia's poorest students to college. gates millennium scholars: administered by the united negro college fund, the foundation donated $1.5 billion for scholarships to high achieving minority students. newschools venture fund: the foundation contributed $30 million to help newschools to manage more charter schools, which aim to prepare students in historically underserved areas for college and careers. strong american schools: on april 25, 2007, the gates foundation joined forces with the eli and edythe broad foundation pledging a joint $60 million to create strong american schools, a nonprofit project responsible for running ed in 08, an initiative and information campaign aimed at encouraging 2008 presidential contenders to include education in their campaign policies. teaching channel: the gates foundation announced in september 2011 a $3.5 million initiative to launch a multi-platform service delivering professional development videos for teachers over the internet, public television, cable and other digital outlets. to date, over 500,000 teachers and educators have joined the community to share ideas, lesson plans and teaching methods. the texas high school project: the project was set out to increase and improve high school graduation rates across texas. the foundation committed $84.6 million to the project beginning in 2003. the project focuses its efforts on high-need schools and districts statewide, with an emphasis on urban areas and the texas-mexico border. university scholars program: donated $20 million in 1998 to endow a scholarship program at melinda gates' alma mater, duke university. the program provides full scholarships to about 10 members of each undergraduate class and one member in each class in each of the professional schools (schools of medicine, business, law, divinity, environment, nursing, and public policy), as well as to students in the graduate school pursuing doctoral degrees in any discipline. graduate and professional school scholars serve as mentors to the undergraduate scholars, who are chosen based on financial need and potential for interdisciplinary academic interests. scholars are chosen each spring from new applicants to duke university's undergraduate, graduate, and professional school programs. the program features seminars to bring these scholars together for interdisciplinary discussions and an annual spring symposium organized by the scholars. washington state achievers scholarship: the washington state achievers program encourages schools to create cultures of high academic achievement while providing scholarship support to select college-bound students. william h. gates public service law program: this program awards five full scholarships annually to the university of washington school of law. scholars commit to working in relatively low-paying public service legal positions for at least the first five years following graduation. university of texas at austin: $30 million challenge grant to build the bill & melinda gates computer science complex. stand up: a national campaign that seeks to positively impact the current crisis within the united states public education system by calling upon community leaders, parents, students, and citizens to encourage change and stand up for better schools and the future of america's children. stand up was co-founded by the eli broad foundation, and was launched in april 2006 on the oprah winfrey show in a two-part feature. alliance for early success to support the promotion, education, coordination, and alignment of policies that support vulnerable children ages birth through age eight. every student succeeds act: donated about $44 million to help with the 2015 federal education law. pacific northwest discovery institute: donated $1 million in 2000 to the discovery institute and pledged $9.35 million over 10 years in 2003, including $50,000 of bruce chapman's $141,000 annual salary. according to a gates foundation grant maker, this grant is "exclusive to the cascadia project" on regional transportation, and it may not be used for the institute's other activities, including promotion of intelligent design. rainier scholars: donated $1 million. computer history museum: donated $15 million to the museum in october 2005. criticism education programs some critics fear that the foundation directs the conversation on education or pushing its point of view through news coverage. the foundation has said it lists all its grants publicly and does not enforce any rules for content among its grantees, who have editorial independence. union activists in chicago have accused gates foundation grantee teach plus, which was founded by new teachers and advocates against seniority-based layoffs, of "astroturfing". the k-12 and higher education reform programs of the gates foundation have been criticized by some education professionals, parents, and researchers because they have driven the conversation on education reform to such an extent that they may marginalize researchers who do not support gates' predetermined policy preferences. several gates-backed policies such as small schools, charter schools, and increasing class sizes have been expensive and disruptive, but some studies indicate they have not improved educational outcomes and may have caused harm. examples of some of the k-12 reforms advocated by the foundation include closing ineffective neighborhood schools in favor of privately run charter schools; extensively using standardized test scores to evaluate the progress of students, teachers, and schools; and merit pay for teachers based on student test scores. critics also believe that the gates foundation exerts too much influence over public education policy without being accountable to voters or taxpayers. global health division a 2007 investigation by the los angeles times claimed there are three major unintended consequences with the foundation's allocation of aid towards the fight against aids, tuberculosis, and malaria. first, sub-saharan africa already suffered from a shortage of primary doctors before the arrival of the gates foundation, but "by pouring most contributions into the fight against such high-profile killers as aids, gates grantees have increased the demand for specially trained, higher-paid clinicians, diverting staff from basic care" in sub-saharan africa. this "brain drain" adds to the existing doctor shortage and pulls away additional trained staff from children and those suffering from other common killers. second, "the focus on a few diseases has shortchanged basic needs such as nutrition and transportation". third, "gates-funded vaccination programs have instructed caregivers to ignore – even discourage patients from discussing – ailments that the vaccinations cannot prevent". in response, the gates foundation has said that african governments need to spend more of their budgets on public health than on wars, that the foundation has donated at least $70 million to help improve nutrition and agriculture in africa, in addition to its disease-related initiatives and that it is studying ways to improve the delivery of health care in africa. both insiders and external critics have suggested that there is too much deference to bill gates's personal views within the gates foundation, insufficient internal debate, and pervasive "group think." critics also complain that gates foundation grants are often awarded based on social connections and ideological allegiances rather than based on formal external review processes or technical competence. critics have suggested that gates' approach to global health and agriculture favors the interests of large pharmaceutical and agribusiness companies (in which gates invests, see biomatics capital partners) over the interests of the people of developing countries. after the gates foundation urged the university of oxford to find a large company partner to get its covid-19 vaccine to market, the university backed off from its earlier pledge to donate the rights to any drugmaker. critics have outlined that the "global health governance" approach as its conducted by the bmgf can best be understood as "global health imperialism" breaking with the "traditional notions of westphalian sovereignty" by enforcing capitalist policies on all countries. also the broader concept of "philanthrocapitalism" is criticised as not addressing the real issue of systemic inequality of capitalism. instead of real social change organisations such as bmgf represent the interests of "highly sophisticated capitalists who know what they want and how best to get it" – the "global health imperialism" agenda is devoted "to expanding worldwide markets and facilitating commerce on behalf of western capitalism". agra the bill & melinda gates foundation is one of the founders and primary financiers of the alliance for a green revolution in africa (agra), an african-led organization focused on "transforming african agriculture" to improve food security in africa and reduce poverty among small farmers. some critics allege that by encouraging the use of mass-produced fertilizers and new seed varieties, agra's hidden goal is not to lift small farmers out of poverty, but to control them through dependence on profit-oriented international supply chains. modi goalkeepers award on september 24, 2019, the bill and melinda gates foundation gave its goalkeepers global goals award to indian prime minister narendra modi. the decision to award modi was widely criticized by academics, nobel prize laureates, and human rights activists from all over the world. a petition signed by over 100,000 people also demanded that the gates foundation rescind the award. critics insisted that modi, a hindu nationalist prime minister with an alleged long record of human rights abuse, should not be