There are many innovative examples of international cooperation and influencing by universities and related stakeholders, which demonstrate their roles as important diplomatic actors and can be summarised in the cross-cutting themes below. These points capture the discussions around the various ways knowledge diplomacy can employ IHERI in a beneficial and cooperative manner to build and strengthen relations and achieve wider strategic objectives.
International partnerships
Overseas campuses: Many universities have strengthened their international presence by establishing campuses overseas. These branch campuses frequently provide a wide range of benefits to their students, such as good graduate employment opportunities, and preparing their students to be fully engaged global citizens. They also help to achieve various strategic objectives for their home institutions, including strengthening their international reputations, enhancing their internationalisation strategies, and helping to strengthen wider bilateral relationships (see below) – although their impact in terms of income generation has been mixed. There are a number of different models for these arrangements, ranging from outposts which are entirely owned by the parent institution to joint ventures with the host country.
Bilateral agreements: Bilateral agreements on higher education and research, whether initiated between institutions or at the level of their governments, and underpinned by mutuality of intent, can help to strengthen wider bilateral relationships. These can take the form of town or city twinning schemes, bilateral trade deals, or through reciprocal donations in times of need.
Cross-cultural exchanges: International relationships between universities can lead to valuable exchanges that can counter domestic skill shortages, address unemployment, provide exposure for cross-cultural and language exchange, as well as develop programmes that can have positive local and community impact on all sides of the arrangement.
Equitable partnerships: Many universities in the Global South have a long and successful track record of practising knowledge diplomacy. African universities in particular played a pivotal role in independence movements across the continent. Today African HEIs and their counterparts elsewhere in the Global South are increasingly realising the benefits of knowledge diplomacy as active funders, equal participants, and promoters of its practices within their emerging leadership – although there is much work to do to ensure that more of these collaborations are underpinned by equitable partnerships.
Cross-sector partnerships: Other universities play a critical role in stimulating collaboration between their institutions, the private sector and government. This was particularly notable during the effort to deliver a vaccine against COVID-19, building on preexisting collaborations on malaria for example. Governments funded and politically backed such efforts, universities conducted much of the basic research, and industry was instrumental in the production and distribution of the vaccines around the world.
International mobility and recruitment
South-South mobility: A number of innovative methods to promote South-South student mobility are being developed. In Africa, these include paid internships, virtual platforms and other mechanisms which support students to experience other countries in the region and around the world, paving the way for deeper cooperation on critical sustainability challenges. These are becoming particularly important in contrast with a crisis of confidence in migration and globalisation in many Western countries.
Counter-trends to student mobility: The uses of knowledge diplomacy very much depend on the degree of independence and autonomy that universities have from their national governments. Where such independence is limited, and universities are more closely tied to their home country’s foreign policy, knowledge diplomacy can serve to further entrench nationalist political movements, limiting the potential for international partnerships. Some countries are seeing a growing generational divide manifesting itself as an increasingly strident ‘generational patriotism’ with younger generations becoming less receptive to international study. Instances were cited whereby international learning is being provided through the hiring of overseas experts to teach students in their home country rather than incentivising study abroad.
Innovative student recruitment: A risk was highlighted of universities ‘instrumentalising’ students as financial assets, both for the higher profile they give to universities and the increase in ranking their education and research efforts can bring to their university. This can potentially conflict with their duty of care to students, particularly those who are vulnerable or from at-risk backgrounds. There are also huge disparities in student flows in some areas (e.g. ten times as many Mexican students go to Spain than vice versa). Innovative student recruitment which prioritises outreach to disadvantaged or underrepresented groups could help counter these trends and pay dividends in terms of attracting international talent.
“When thinking about food [in the context of cultural diplomacy], your first thought should not be food security but cuisine; there needs to be a change in thinking”.
International reputation
Cultural diplomacy: The importance of cultural diplomacy is best illustrated by its increasing importance to Ukrainian universities undergoing conflict. With the country suffering a ‘brain drain’ as students flee for safer environments, some of its universities are actively engaging the growing diaspora community through online courses on Ukrainian culture. These are designed to maintain links with their home country and to prepare the diaspora for potential roles in post-war reconstruction. They also serve to counter the hostile narratives Ukraine is currently subject to from its adversaries and promote wider awareness of its heritage and relation to other cultures.
Wartime innovation: There is also a school of thought that wartime accelerates the development of some aspects of innovation, science and technology. Proponents of this view point to the technologies developed or widely adopted in response to the urgent needs of society in World War II (e.g. radar, penicillin, code-breaking) and suggest that there is much that civilian research elsewhere could learn from innovations currently being developed in Ukraine.
International influence: A considerable international footprint, whether through overseas campuses or a long track record of welcoming students from particular countries or regions, can provide universities with significant international influence. This often sees Rectors or Vice-Chancellors of leading international universities having prominent roles in high level national delegations alongside, and in some cases ahead of, national political leaders.
Risk management
The practice of knowledge diplomacy does not already run smoothly and entails a number of different kinds of risks: The practice of knowledge diplomacy in the above and other areas does not always run smoothly and entails a number of different kinds of risks. The management of these risks should be a fundamental component of internationalisation strategies. Some of these risks are described below.
“Research is often the first and the last thing we talk about”
Academic freedom and institutional independence: Higher education and research institutions have to manage a difficult trade-off in their internationalisation activities, which involves staying broadly in line with their national government’s legal framework and foreign policy and not getting ahead of either, whilst simultaneously not being seen as instruments of the state. Universities also have to be sensitive to the views of donors, some of whom have been particularly influential in the US in responding to campus protests. Institutions are also increasingly required to conduct international collaborations with ‘eyes wide open’ in order to ensure the security of their research, whilst also safeguarding academic freedom. In some authoritarian countries in which institutions have less autonomy, increasing ‘generational patriotism’ (see above) may serve to put off potential international collaborators and/or international students from engagement.
Commercialisation and commercial sensitivity: Universities and similar institutions also need to ensure they are financially robust and sustainable, which is also key in maintaining institutional autonomy. They need to be able to reap the benefits of commercialising their research, which may be challenging when collaborating internationally in an open scientific system, yet also when collaborating with partners in industry who have more stringent measures relating to intellectual property. A geographically diverse range of international students and collaborations also reduces the volatility of a dependence on students from particular countries or regions, which may be at risk from changing geopolitical dynamics or government measures in response to them.
A ‘safe space’ for sharing best practice: While the risks above cannot be mitigated entirely, they can be managed in ways that are proportional and effective. There is a need to bring together higher education and research institutes grappling with these issues in settings which enable full and frank discussion of these risks, horizon scanning and scenario planning to assess and monitor potential future risks and consider possible responses, as well as wider challenges and opportunities for the sector (see next page).