Re-imagining Global Higher Education in an Era of Geopolitical Re-alignment

By Tom Kirk - 21 October 2025

Re-imagining Global Higher Education in an Era of Geopolitical Re-alignment

Maguatcher Jeremie and Chen Bateer examine how the ongoing geopolitical realignment is reshaping global higher education—transforming universities into instruments of influence, competition, and collaboration across an increasingly multipolar world.

Global higher education is transforming. Instead of a stable, unipolar world, we now have a fractured, multipolar order. Countries compete for talent and use education for soft power and global influence. While China’s rise is often highlighted, Europe, the Global South, and new alliances are also shaping global knowledge flows. Western dominance is giving way to a distributed network of academic hubs that are redefining student mobility, research collaboration, and the global academic landscape (Marginson, 2024). This shift changes not only power dynamics but also the role of higher education worldwide.

The Fragmentation of Academic Hegemony

Western “soft power” in higher education rested on three pillars: large inbound student flows, control of global rankings metrics, and unrivalled research budgets. All three are eroding. COVID-19 border closures, rising protectionism, and ideological polarization have accelerated what Xu (2025) calls “policy mutations”: national systems selectively import, reassemble, and indigenize foreign templates rather than copying them wholesale.

Europe’s response has been to double-down on transnational instruments—Erasmus+ (€26 bn, 2021–27) and Horizon Europe (€95 bn)—instruments that embed academic freedom and reciprocity in grant law. Rankings data show the payoff: in 2024, 38 % of the world’s top-200 universities are still European, but only 15 % are U.K. or U.S. institutions outside continental Europe (Times Higher Education, 2024). Meanwhile, the Global South is moving from “policy-taker” to “policy-shaper”. The African Union’s harmonized qualifications framework and ASEAN’s University Network have created intra-regional credit transfer systems that bypass former colonial hubs.

China's Rising Influence and Its Challenges

China’s international enrolments grew from 3,000 degree-seeking students in 1980 to 492,185 in 2018, making it the third-largest study destination after the U.S. and the U.K. (MOE, 2019). The engine is the “Double First-Class” project (2017-2050), which channels an estimated US$70 bn to 147 universities to achieve “world-class” status by mid-century (Zhang et al., 2024). Bibliometrically, the gamble is paying off: China overtook the U.S. in high-impact STEM output in 2022 (NSF, 2024) and now supplies 28 % of the world’s top 1 % most-cited AI papers.

Nevertheless, three constraints cap China’s soft-power yield. First, academic-freedom indices place China in the bottom decile worldwide (FSI, 2024), deterring risk-averse researchers. Second, language barriers and hukou-based labor rules limit foreign graduates’ transition into the local industry: only 14 % of non-Chinese alumni secured work visas in 2023. Third, reputational spillover from geopolitical tensions (Taiwan Region, South China Sea) has pushed the favorability ratings of Chinese HE below 50% among Gen-Z respondents in 17 OECD states (Pavic et al., 2024). Thus, China is simultaneously a magnet for STEM talent and a cautionary tale in the liberal arts and social sciences.

Europe’s Quiet Resilience

Rather than emulate the “arms-race” spending of Beijing or Washington, the EU has weaponized values—academic freedom, multilingualism, data-privacy—to build what Maassen (2024) terms “normative power through higher education”. Horizon Europe legally requires grantees to adopt gender mainstreaming, open science, and co-authorship with at least one low- or middle-income partner, effectively hard-wiring solidarity into excellence schemes. During 2022-24, 1,400 at-risk scholars were hosted under the Scholars-at-Risk EU matchmaking platform—a figure three times larger than the U.S. equivalent. The result is a soft-power dividend: African and Latin-American PhD candidates now cite “academic freedom” and “visa-free Schengen mobility” as top pull factors, second only to stipend level.

Russia’s Geo-strategic Militarization of Universities

Russia’s Federal Program “Military Education in Service of the Fatherland” (2024-30) allocates 57.7 bn rubles (≈ US $668 m) to embed military training in civilian universities; 40,000 students are expected to major in drone technology by 2025, scaling to 180,000 by 2030 (Oleksiyenko, 2023). Ten percent of all state-funded places are now ring-fenced for children of active-duty personnel, with fast-track scholarships and guaranteed housing (Presidential Decree 443, 2024). Internationally, Russia re-packages Soviet-era patronage: 4,816 African students will hold full state scholarships in 2025-26, a three-fold increase since 2010 (UWN Reporter, 2024). Joint centers with Vietnam, Venezuela, and India focus on petroleum engineering, AI, and nuclear physics—fields explicitly tied to Russia’s export economy. The ideological counterpart is a compulsory course, “Foundations of Russian Statehood”, exported to partner campuses abroad, illustrating how academic collaboration can be conscripted into “sharp power”.

The Global South: From Knowledge Periphery to Epistemic Sovereignty

Connell’s (2007) “Southern Theory” argued that social science was built on Northern experiences and exported as universal. Today, Nigeria’s National Open University (4 million registered learners) and India’s SWAYAM platform (30 million course enrolments) invert that flow, offering low-cost, low-bandwidth MOOCs now imported by Caribbean and Pacific island states. Brazil’s “Science without Borders” (2011-2017) sent 111,000 students abroad, but its successor “Print-CAPES” (2022-26) conditions overseas PhDs on returnees setting up laboratories in the North-East or Amazon regions, tying international exposure to domestic development (CAPES, 2022). Regional qualification frameworks—African Union’s AQRM and ASEAN’s RQF—already cover 700 universities, allowing credits earned in Nairobi to be recognized in Jakarta without reference to London or Paris. These instruments mark a shift from “internationalization” (adapting to Northern norms) to “trans-nationalization” (setting regionally-rooted norms that travel).

Recommendations for a Resilient Academic Future

For Governments - Governments must implement a nuanced strategy that balances national interests with international cooperation. A “managed openness” policy encourages engagement while mitigating risks. Clear guidelines for international academic cooperation should balance scholarly values with national security concerns. Governments must also avoid discouraging international student demand, especially in STEM fields, as this harms long-term talent pipelines. For Global South countries, early investment in innovation ecosystems—digital infrastructure, risk capital, and science education—is essential.

For Higher Education Institutions - Universities must build strategic agility by diversifying partnerships and recruiting from emerging academic hubs. This includes investing in localized marketing, peer recruitment, and clear career guidance. Support services must be culturally responsive, and Internationalization at Home (IaH) should be embedded in curricula. As mobility constraints persist, institutions must use technology to offer scalable virtual experiences. As Huang, Wen, and Xiao argue, “internationalization needs to be contextualized in reference to state interests and changes in geopolitical conditions” .

For the Global Academic Community - The scholarly community must promote “track two” diplomacy—academic exchanges that transcend geopolitical divides. This includes upholding research integrity, training researchers in risk mitigation, and protecting academic freedom from political interference. Building strong international networks is critical to addressing global challenges like climate change and pandemics. As noted in recent policy research, academia must engage in “coalition-building and practical cooperation” that bridges political divisions.

Maguatcher Jeremie is a PhD Scholar at the Institute of Higher Education, Zhou Enlai School of Government, Nankai University, China.

Chen Bateer is a Professor at the Institute of Higher Education, Zhou Enlai School of Government, Nankai University, China.

References

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