Foundations have become influential actors in the educational sector by now. This is mainly based on new forms of governance and a new educational regime in which public and private actors cooperate more and more. This article deals on the one hand critically with the legitimation of large foundations functioning as education political actors; it illustrates on the other hand the problems of this involvement exemplarily with regard to the Bertelsmann Foundation.

Keywords
new educational regime, foundations, private actors in the area of education, Bertelsmann Foundation