Professor Ylva Rodny-Gumede is professor of communication studies and senior director, Division for Global Engagement, University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
She recently published an opinion article that first appeared in the World University News on 13 July 2024.
According to the latest 2024 World Bank report on global risks, war and conflict, increasingly polarised politics, the global economic downturn and rising costs of living and the impact of climate change are all factors that are destabilising the global geopolitical order.
Higher education has a role to play in responding to these challenges, and what is needed is a coordinated knowledge diplomacy strategy from the side of the international higher education community.
This was the topic of a three-day seminar in June, titled “Knowledge diplomacy – the role of international higher education in a new geopolitical era” hosted by Wilton Park, an executive agency of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, in collaboration with the University of Nottingham.
Bringing together thought leaders in higher education, government, research and development agencies from around the world, deliberations focused on how universities and other higher education stakeholders can come together to mitigate conflict and tackle global grand challenges.
Some of the issues discussed centred on what knowledge diplomacy in higher education means for universities amid an increasingly complex geopolitical context and how universities and academics can shape global higher education as well as the strategies universities can adopt to advance knowledge diplomacy.
Strategies for African universities
What is the role of academics amidst these geopolitical shifts, and do we have the tools, agency and resources to advance knowledge diplomacy? In addition, and importantly, what does this mean for African universities and what strategies can African universities adopt to advance knowledge diplomacy?
“Knowledge diplomacy” can, according to Professor Jane Knight of the University of Toronto and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Higher Education, be defined as “the process of building and strengthening relations between and among countries through international higher education, research and innovation”.
The academy has always engaged with politics nationally as well as globally and has often contributed extensively to foreign policy and foreign policy debates. However, given the unprecedented speed of globalisation, the interdependence of nations and the urgency to tackle global grand challenges, the need for public engagement and policy interventions whether in relation to foreign politics, the environment, or economy is greater than ever.
Universities cannot ignore the increasingly polarised geopolitical shifts that form the context in which they operate. And, more and more universities are becoming embroiled in heightened political debates, not at least on their own campuses through student protests and calls for university leadership to take a stand on political issues.
For African universities this is coupled with, and shaped by, the continent’s history and legacies of slavery, colonialism and apartheid and in recent years renewed calls for decolonisation.
Universities are changing
Just as diplomacy and intra-governmental relations are changing and new actors, whether from industry or the non-governmental sector, are influencing diplomacy and the ways in which diplomatic relations are shaped and conducted, universities are changing.
Knight argues: “International higher education and research are changing at an unprecedented pace with the development of innovative global research networks; education/knowledge hubs; international, joint universities; regional centres of excellence; multisector partnerships; and new modes of academic mobility among students, scholars, programmes, providers, research and policies.
“Contemporary diplomacy is equally dynamic with new non-governmental actors, instruments, modes and issues.”
All of this makes universities exceptionally well placed to engage in global debates through a knowledge diplomacy framework. Few other institutions have the capacity to bring so many people and cutting-edge research together from across disciplines and geographical locations in the way higher education institutions can.
We need interventions from a diverse set of voices, including our students. Working with our students is imperative, particularly amid student protests and unrest.
As universities we should work with industry, government and non-governmental organisations and be bold in our endeavours to connect people and forge collaboration through leveraging our existing networks and partnerships.
In addition, humanitarian international cooperation is often built into our programmes, that is, global leadership, active citizenship, humanitarian aid, intercultural understanding, language skills and ethics.
All of this speaks directly to knowledge diplomacy and shows how it differs from science diplomacy, for example. While science diplomacy moves in the realm of science, knowledge diplomacy considers and moves in the realm of the broader sciences and includes a cultural dimension.
Collective power and standing
Our engagements between universities as well as with other stakeholders outside of the academy need to be built on humanitarianism, solidarity and common purpose. Through knowledge diplomacy we stand to forge better and more equitable relations between institutions as well.
Let’s use our collective power and standing as curators and creators of knowledge to create a better world for all. This might be the time to develop a set of guiding principles for universities to develop their own knowledge diplomacy strategies.
Through knowledge diplomacy, universities will not only be able to engage more meaningfully with global grand challenges, but also change narratives around history and how these continue to influence geopolitical debates, narratives and perceptions, hopefully contributing to the decolonisation of geopolitics.
Knowledge diplomacy does not preclude public debate and the taking of standpoints. Academic freedom does not preclude knowledge diplomacy and vice versa.
Importantly, knowledge keeps generating, and diplomacy should not end. Ending diplomatic relations should always be a last resort.
*The views expressed in this article are that of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect that of the University of Johannesburg.
