Edging past the competition: China’s Stealth Plan to gain Soft Power through Confucius Institutes, Chinese and American University Partnerships

• In Event: The interrelations among domestic and international geopolitical contexts affecting university policies

Proposal

Confucius Institutes have been established globally to promote Chinese language and culture. The Chinese Ministry of Education has funded over 500 Confucius Institutes throughout the world with 110 existing on the campuses of American Universities (Dennis, 2018). Staff at each Institute is a university professor that is selected by the Chinese government (Hubbert, 2014). American Universities, often cash-strapped, welcomes at least 100,000 USD a year to support culture and language courses (Dennis, 2018). However, in recent years there has been growing bipartisan political concern about the true intentions of these partnerships (Allen, 2018). It has been reported that these institutes are part of a strategic plan to increase China’s soft power globally (Gil, 2009). Recently Texas A&M and other U.S. universities have either severed ties with Confucius institutes or looked at revising its policies due to a perceived threat of compromised intellectual property, censorship, and external impact over university decisions (Allen, 2018). The highly esteemed QS World University Rankings shows that Chinese universities continue to climb each year on the top 100 list (Symonds, 2018). In 2018, The National Science Foundation reported that for the first time China has published more science publications than the United States (National Science Board (US), 2018). This presentation examines previous and current factors and policies governing the collaboration between Confucius Institutes, Chinese and American University Partnerships.

Allen, S. G. (2018). Congressmen urge schools to sever ties with Chinese Institute. Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, 35(7), 9–9.

Dennis, M. J. (2018). The soft power of Confucius Institutes. Enrollment Management Report, 22(6), 3–3.

Gil, J. A. (2009). China’s Confucius Institute Project: language and soft power in world politics.

Hubbert, J. (2014). Ambiguous states: Confucius Institutes and Chinese soft power in the US classroom. PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review, 37(2), 329–349.

National Science Board (US). (2018). Science & engineering indicators. National Science Board.

Symonds, Q. (2018). QS world university rankings. Retrieved from Top Universities: http://www.topuniversities.com/Qs-World-University-Rankings

Author

• Shaneeka Favors-Welch, Georgia State University