International Higher Education as Foreign Policy: Comparing the Strategies of the EU, China, and Russia Towards Central Asia
- Institution: Collegium Civitas (Poland)
- ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4710-2640
- Institution: Collegium Civitas (Poland)
- ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1677-986X
- Institution: Collegium Civitas (Poland)
- ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4451-5092
- Published online: 15 July 2022
- Final submission: 16 March 2022
- Printed issue: 2022
- Source: Show
- Page no: 13
- Pages: 111-123
- DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/ppsy202228
- PDF: ppsy/51/ppsy202228.pdf
The article sheds light on the nexus between higher education and foreign policy. International higher education has become an increasingly prominent element of some states’ policies towards other countries as a flank to traditional foreign policy. It has occurred in Central Asia, where the European Union, China and Russia are all supporting teaching, research and capacity-building activities in the tertiary sectors of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Although they employ similar tools and instruments, the assumptions and visions underpinning their respective strategies diverge. Russia’s strategy is shaped by historically informed identity factors and the impulse to entrench predominance in the post-Soviet space, whilst China uses its support for higher education as a soft infrastructure for its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Meanwhile, the EU has integrated higher education into its strategy for the region, which aims at drawing Central Asia closer to its orbit through democratisation and the rule of law.
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soft power higher education Central Asia European Union Russia China