Academic Diplomacy in Relations between Russia and Pacific Asia countries

Abstract

Analysts usually consider only strategic, geopolitical, or economic aspects of Russia’s turn to the East. Humanitarian contacts and public diplomacy, including academic diplomacy, remain mainly on the periphery of research on the Asian vector of Russian foreign policy. Despite significant achievements in educational cooperation with non-Western countries during the Soviet period, after the end of the bipolar period, Russia turned to European academic diplomacy. To some extent, it helped Russia move forward in educational and research cooperation with the EU. However, it did not help remove all the stumbling blocks on Russia’s way to internationalize its education and science. Alongside interaction with Asia, which became home to many world-class universities by the 20th and 21st centuries, Russia’s cooperation with Europe has significantly lagged.Nevertheless, as the current situation demonstrates, a more proactive Russian academic and educational diplomacy in Asia is essential for successful economic cooperation and a comprehensive Russian presence in Asia. The paper, therefore, seeks to analyze the dynamics of Russian approaches to educational diplomacy, based on the qualitative and quantitative assessments to scrutinize the main trends of the higher education development in Asia and to define the current state and prospects of Russia’s educational cooperation with Pacific Asia. The paper argues that to be successful, Russia’s turn to the East must have a better-developed educational component, which considers the newest trends of higher education development at the international level. These steps are essential for keeping Russian education competitive and implementing Russian foreign policy in the current circumstances.