Brazil’s “Ciencia sêm Fronteiras” Program and Soft Power

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 496-520
Author(s):  
Thomas Froehlich

Ciencia sêm Fronteiras was one of the largest academic exchange programs in the early 2010s that enabled almost 100.000 Brazilian researchers to undertake their research or entire degrees abroad. As one major element of Dilma Rousseff’s international engagement, the program was often named in the context of Brazil’s soft power. But very little research has been done on how Ciencia sêm Fronteiras contributed to Brazil’s soft power reservoir. This article examines the program from an institutional perspective and analyzes why the program has come short in living up to its soft power potential.

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
A. Safril Mubah

Japan and Indonesia have developed mutual cooperation in academic exchange programs for the past three decades. Japan acknowledges that student interchange plays a significant role in promoting mutual understanding between Japan and foreign countries. Japanese government expects international students, either those who are still studying in Japan or those who have returned to their home countries, serve as a bridge between their countries and Japan. To achieve this goal, Japanese government employs some agencies to undertake academic exchange programs. In Indonesia, particularly, some Japanese agencies such as Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO), Japan Foundation, and Japan International Cooperation Center (JICE) have played important role in student exchanges. They have various programs to attract Indonesian students getting involved in academic exchanges. This paper describes these agencies’ role in academic exchange programs between Japan and Indonesia. Considering that the Japanese agencies work to promote Japan’s soft power through public diplomacy activities under transgovernmental networks model, I utilize concepts of public diplomacy and transgovernmental networks as a framework for analyzing the case. I argue that Japanese agencies have successfully served as Japanese public diplomacy agents by acting great role in advancing Japan’s soft power through academic exchange activities. However, some challenges appear in the way to achieve Japanese public diplomacy goal to create mutual understanding between Japanese and Indonesian people.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Åkerlund

The article investigates the financial basis of state-sponsored international academic exchange through the Swedish Institute (SI). Founded in 1945 the SI is the main institution for Swedish public diplomacy and is as such part of modern foreign policy and Swedish soft power. This article maps the changing sources of funding as well as the sums spent on academic exchange from 1945–2010. It also discusses the various forms of exchange programs and gives an overview of the ideas behind and arguments for such programs. The overall picture is that state-sponsored exchange after 1945 has expanded. Not only has more and more money been spent on exchange, which led to an increase in the number of persons benefitted, but there has also been a diversification in exchange schemes towards parallel programs, each designed to fulfill a certain task. Though they fund different parts of the SI exchange scheme, the main sources of funding, however, have remained the same: the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, various development assistance agencies and programs as well as the Ministry for Education.


Author(s):  
Joseph H. G. Howard ◽  
Herbert C. Ratz

The importance of international engineering student exchange programs in today’s increasingly global marketplace is well accepted. This report describes aspects of the experience of the University of Waterloo with such a program which involves 26 institutions in 14 countries. A major element in a successful link is close collaboration between faculty coordinators at the two institutions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 33348
Author(s):  
Kétina Allen da Silva Timboni ◽  
Andrea De Araújo Rupert ◽  
Margarete Schlatter

Curso Autoformativo de Português para Intercâmbio (CAPI) is a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) that aims to prepare students for academic exchange programs. The didactic materials of CAPI are being designed based on a perspective of language use (Clark, 2000) and discourse genres (Bakhtin, 2011). This paper analyzes the course contents in order to examine how this theoretical construct was put into practice in the selection of themes and texts and in the design of the pedagogical tasks. The materials are coherent with the theoretical perspective in that they foster the learning of Portuguese in use and to use through the interaction with oral and written texts in social practices in which students might participate in the university and the city of destination, thus preparing them for their stay. The addition of explicit reflection on possible implications of interlocutors’ relations to the use of linguistic-discursive and cultural repertoires is suggested.


Author(s):  
Deborah Bräutigam ◽  
Yunnan Chen

This chapter examines China’s South–South relations and how it has been shaped by the nature of the Chinese state: a highly capable, developmental state that uses an array of instruments to promote its interests. In particular, it considers how, by means of foreign aid, economic cooperation, soft power, and trade, China aspires to be seen as a responsible global power. The chapter first looks at the history behind China’s engagement with countries of the Global South and the instruments that it has employed in this regard such as foreign investment, commercial loans, and soft power tools. It shows that Chinese ties with the developing world are shaped by long-standing foreign policy principles, including non-interference in the internal affairs of others, equality, and mutual benefit, along with its embrace of globalization and the growth of its multinational corporations. The chapter concludes with an assessment of concerns regarding China’s international engagement.


Author(s):  
Lê Hữu Tuấn Anh ◽  
Hoàng Thị Mai Khánh ◽  
Nguyễn Hoàng Hải ◽  
Mai Thị Thu Ngân ◽  
Võ Thị Sương ◽  
...  

Ngày nay, học tập tại nước ngoài được xem là một cơ hội lớn đối với sinh viên để nâng cao kiến thức, trải nghiệm của chính bản thân trong tương lai. Đặc biệt, hình thức học tập thông qua các chương trình trao đổi văn hóa, học thuật tại nước ngoài đã và đang trở thành xu hướng phổ biến. Hình thức này tuy có những điểm chung so với việc du học dài hạn của sinh viên, nhưng ngoài ra những ưu điểm riêng của nó, cũng giúp hình thức này nhận được nhiều sự quan tâm của các bạn sinh viên.  Nghiên cứu này được nhóm tác giả thực hiện nhằm xác định các nhân tố ảnh hưởng đến quyết định tham gia chương trình trao đổi quốc tế (TĐQT) của sinh viên Việt Nam. Nghiên cứu được thực hiện theo phương pháp hỗn hợp, bao gồm nghiên cứu định tính (phỏng vấn chuyên gia) và nghiên cứu định lượng (khảo sát thông qua bảng hỏi), tiến hành trên 505 đối tượng trong thời gian từ tháng 11/2019 đến tháng 02/2020. Từ 8 nhân tố được kế thừa từ nghiên cứu trước và thông qua nghiên cứu định tính, kết quả phân tích định lượng chỉ ra 7 nhân tố có tác động trực tiếp lên quyết định tham gia các chương trình TĐQT của sinh viên. Từ đó, nghiên cứu đem lại những giải pháp cho sinh viên, các trường tổ chức liên kết và các phòng ban chuyên môn có thể xây dựng, đặt ra các mục tiêu phù hợp nhằm nâng cao hiệu quả của các chương trình TĐQT tại Việt Nam.   Từ khóa: Giáo dục, Trao đổi quốc tế, ý định tham gia, thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Sinh viên In this day and age, studying abroad acts as an golden opportunity for students to expand their perspectives, and to gain priceless experience, which can facilitate their career path in the future. Moreover, international learning and knowledge propels students towards acceptance and understanding of an array of different cultural and community perspectives. Especially, a type of studying overseas called cultural and academic exchange programs has been becoming a popular trend. Although it shares a multitude of similarities with a long-term studying abroad programs, it has its own distinctive features which have been receiving a great deal of students’ attentions. This can be strong evidence that more and more students all around the world are participating in these programs every year. In terms of technical side, this research aims to identify factors having impacts on Vietnamese students’ decisions in participating in exchange programs. In specific, mixed methods are employed in the research, through qualitative methods (semi-structure interview) and quantitative method (survey), with 505 participants involving from November 2019 to February 2020. Based on literature review and qualitative analysis, a framework of 8 factors is proposed. Through quantitative analysis of survey questionnaire’s results, the research continues indicating a total of 7 factors that directly have influence on students’ decisions in taking part in exchange programs. Furthermore, the research provides several suggestions and objectives for individuals and organizations, which get involved in those exchange programs namely students, universities and educational institutions. Ultimately, the research is up for making a contribution to enhancing the effectiveness of exchange programs in Vietnam with a purpose that more Vietnamese students regardless of their backgrounds, can potentially have enough necessary qualities and satisfying the necessary conditions to carry on their studying abroad.     Keywords: Education, International exchange, Intention to participate, Ho Chi Minh City, Alumnus


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
Muhammad Riduan Bin Samad

In exerting soft power to pursue its economic interests in Southeast Asia, Japan has been challenged by its regional rivals. In retaining its position, Japan needs to win the hearts and minds of ASEAN youths, a generation moving toward the middle class with significant purchasing power. Hence, a three-month online survey and a series of focus group discussions were conducted to gather information and perspectives about Japan from 222 youth respondents from the ten ASEAN countries. It was found that ASEAN young generations have a good impression of Japan and Japanese people, even though most of them have never been to Japan or personally interacted with a Japanese person. This perception has been built most effectively by Japanese popular culture, including animation and manga. However, youth development and exchange programs, and interactions with Japanese people are less influential factors, especially for those who are from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Thus, exposures to Japanese products and services to ASEAN young generations have not only contributed to the Japanese economy but also contributed to the positive perception toward the country. Given tighter government budgets, streamlining Japan’s soft power strategy will help it win over ASEAN youths for its future economic prosperity.


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