Higher Education and Public Diplomacy

Stephen C. Dunnett
University at Buffalo, SUNY
March 6, 2012
In my presentation I will speak about the role of U.S. institutions of higher education as active
and indeed essential players in U.S. public diplomacy. I will illustrate my talk with some
examples drawn from my own institution, the University at Buffalo, in particular and from the
SUNY system in general.
U.S. institutions of higher education have long played an important role in U.S. public
diplomacy, and they are players in the following ways:
they welcome and educate international students and visiting scholars, nearly 725,000 in
the 2011 academic year
they send their students and faculty overseas to study, or to teach or engage in
international exchange and development
they participate in U.S. government overseas development assistance programs such as
USAID and other foreign aid programs
they participate in U.S. government supported exchange programs such as Fulbright, by
either receiving and partially supporting Fulbright scholars and Fulbright students on
their campuses, or by encouraging their own students and faculty to participate in
Fulbright exchange programs overseas
they engage in all sorts of collaborative activities with counterpart institutions abroad,
whether it be traditional exchange agreements or by developing branch campuses
overseas, or by engaging in dual and joint degree programs with overseas institutions of
higher education, or by offering their degree programs overseas in various modes of
delivery such as live in country instruction, digital access, distance learning or in various
combinations of these modes of deliver, or what we call blended learning
they maintain authentic dialogue with counterpart institutions in countries where U.S.
diplomatic relations my not exist or where they are viewed with suspicion
Let me now talk in a more detail about these various ways in which American universities and
colleges have played their role in U.S. public diplomacy. Lets start with our students. It could
be said that in the late 19th century when the U.S. Land Grant colleges enrolled their first
international students from Mexico, Central America and Canada and when they welcomed
German and British academics to teach in their colleges they began to play this role. But it was
not until after the Second World War that U.S. universities really became major players in
public diplomacy. American academics were very active in the reconstruction projects in
Europe, and especially Japan from 1946 onward. In the late 1950s U.S. universities and colleges
began to welcome large numbers of international students from Europe, Africa and Latin
America, and a little later from Japan. Today the United States is the largest recipient of
students from other countries and in 2011 it welcomed 725,000 international students.

When I give speeches in the local community about the value of international education I often
argue that international students help us internationalize our own American student body by
their presence on our campus, and that they will return to their home countries with a greater
appreciation of the United States, and of its values, institutions and way of life; this is the socalled winning of hearts and minds strategy. I also argue that cultural contact helps us to
diminish stereotypes and break down the barriers which divide us. In short we are contributing
to world peace. If these arguments dont resonate, I point out that the 5,000 international
students enrolled at the University at Buffalo contribute over $100 million annually to the
economy of Western New York, and I contrast that with the fact the Buffalo Bills brought only
$70 million into the local economy. That usually gets the attention of the business persons in the
audience!
Another argument, which is a more sensitive one, is that we have little choice but to recruit
international student, especially graduate students in the STEM fields (science, technology,
engineering and mathematics), since we are no longer producing enough qualified American
students in these fields. Without international students many of our research programs would
collapse and we would have no teaching assistants and laboratory assistants in many of the
natural sciences and mathematics.
Of course our state and federal governments encourages us to welcome international students,
they usually pay two to three times the in-state tuition which is certainly helpful during these
difficult economic times, but I believe the federal governments motivation to encourage us to
recruit international students to the country is more about soft power, than improving our trade
imbalance. However, I should add that we have not really empirically tested this popular belief
that international students leave our country with a positive image of the USA and its foreign
policy. To know us is not always to love us. When I had to meet with Muslim students on our
campus recently to try and explain the activities of the New York City Police Department on
our campus I did not feel those students were going to go home believing civil liberties are well
protected in the USA. But back to my main point, I believe it is incumbent on U.S. academics to
conduct more research on the experiences and attitudes of the international students we
education. Certainly, from my own observations over the 40 years of my career in international
education I am convinced the majority of the students who study on our campuses return home
with positive feelings about that experience, and about the United States in particular. My only
regret is that the impact the international students make on Americans, and on the host culture,
is much less than the impact we make on them.
In addition to welcoming international students to our universities and colleges we also send
out approximately 270,000 students to engage in study abroad at sister institutions overseas, at
branch campuses or as interns etc. This may sound like a big number, but regrettably the
national participation rate in study abroad is only 2% of our undergraduate students. These
young Americans, like Peace Corps volunteers, are our best ambassadors. It is frequently said
that study abroad is a life changing experience and indeed it is for many of our undergraduate
students, but in many cases they also change the lives of the persons they interact with
overseas, or at least portray a more positive image of Americans. And our faculty do the same
when they work on USAID projects in developing countries around the world, or when they

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venture overseas as Fulbrighters, or just to teach or do research in an exchange partner

university.
I once heard someone say that if the U.S. Department of State has a brand around the world; it
is without a doubt the Fulbright Program. Many years ago I was a Fulbright scholar in Japan. I
had spent time in Japan and in Asia in the past and I did not expect the Fulbright experience
would affect me very much since I felt I knew and understood Japanese culture well. However,
I had never really worked in Japan and once I was immersed in my host university I slowly
began to realize I didnt know Japan or Japanese nearly as well as I had previously thought. To
work side by side with Japanese colleagues, to engage in the life of my academic department, to
have long and continuous contact with my students taught me things and gave me insights I
would never have gained otherwise. In looking back on that experience I like to think I might
have touched the lives of my colleagues and students a little, that I might have given something
back, certainly not to the same degree of magnitude as what I had received, but perhaps
something of me remained there for a while.
I mentioned earlier that U.S. faculty members engage in a great variety of overseas
development activities. I was privileged to work in China when the University at Buffalo
established the first U.S. university training center in Beijing right after normalization of
diplomatic relations. Later I participate in U.S. development projects in management education
in Latvia, Poland and Hungary in the 1990s, and I can say with much pride we did indeed
make a difference in the lives of the people we served in those countries. Did we make friends
for America, without a doubt!
I also mentioned earlier that U.S. institutions engage in all sorts of collaborative activities with
counterpart institutions abroad, and indeed the variety of models for this engagement has never
been as diverse as it is today. While the traditional exchange agreements between institutions
of higher education are still the mainstay of our cooperation overseas, new forms of cooperation
are rapidly developing, such as overseas branch campuses. SUNY Stony Brook is about to open
a branch campus in Korea, and the University at Buffalo has a rapidly growing branch campus
in Singapore which currently enrolls nearly 1600 students. My university also offers graduate
degree programs in China and India with prestigious local university partners, and we teach
English at centers in Taiwan and Japan.
Another popular model for international institutional cooperation is the dual and joint degree
programs.
SUNY can take much pride in having developed the first system-wide
undergraduate dual diploma program with most of the major institutions of higher education
in Turkey in 2003. Under this model there are over 1200 Turkish students currently studying in
a variety of disciplines at some 10 SUNY colleges and university centers. The architect of this
innovative program, Ambassador Robert Gosende, deserves our gratitude not only for
conceptualizing this innovative model, which is now widely adopted both in the USA and
overseas, but also for building it into a very successful program. Bob, you can be very proud of
this legacy and on behalf of my own institution I thank you very much! Without question the
hundreds of students from Turkey who study in SUNY classrooms contribute to a deeper
understanding between Americans and Turks. And when those students return to Turkey, a
critical U.S. ally and friend in a difficult part of the world, they will undoubtedly become
ambassadors of the United States to their own people.
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As my time runs out, I would like to mention one more important way in which U.S.
universities contribute to our nations public diplomacy, even when our government doesnt
always welcome or support us in that role. We maintain authentic dialogue with our
counterpart institutions of higher education in countries where Washington may no longer
maintain diplomatic relations, or where official channels of communication are distorted or
broken. I am thinking of the role U.S. universities played during the Cold War era in the former
Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe. Or in Vietnam and Cambodia after the U.S. withdrawal
from Southeast Asia. I was privileged to be a member of several U.S. academic reconciliation
delegations to both Vietnam and Cambodia before diplomatic relations were restored.
A more contemporary example concerns our current troubled and complex relationship with
Cuba. Despite the many barriers erected by the U.S. Treasury department several universities
still struggle to maintain exchange programs and study abroad programs in Cuba, including
SUNY Oswego and the University at Buffalo. The University at Buffalo maintains an active
exchange program with the University of Havana and indeed we collaborate on a dual masters
degree program in Caribbean Studies. I wish you could sit in classrooms or in faculty lounges
with me and listen, indeed participate, in the intensive discussions we have with our
counterparts as we discuss issues in our bilateral relationship, or just chat about your families
and lifestyles. This is true citizen diplomacy.
In conclusion let me say that when my colleagues and I are doing the work we love in
international education I dont believe we stop to think of ourselves as advancing U.S. public
diplomacy objectives. Indeed it was only a few years ago, when there was a different
administration in Washington, some of us would have been appalled by such a thought! We
are just doing what we have been trained to do as academics, as teachers and as
internationalists. If we do step back and reflect on the role we play in U.S. public diplomacy I
think we can take some measure of pride in knowing we contribute to a greater and more
positive understanding of our country, and of its values. I just wish our government would
spend a little more on supporting our activities and in supporting exchange programs such as
Fulbright. When I look at the activities of other countries in this domain, in particular China
with its Confucius Institutes around the world (there are currently 5 in the SUNY system), I
regret the loss of USIA and of the information centers and libraries we once proudly provided.
I regret the loss of the scholarship programs we once offered to African students who can no
longer afford to study in our country. Our embassies are now armed fortresses which do not
encourage the very citizens we hope to engage to enter, and while I understand the reasons for
such fortification, I dont understand why we cant have off site informational and educational
centers. But this may be a discussion for another session. I thank you for your attention and I
look forward to our discussion.

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