Year: 2025

In today’s world, where traditional diplomacy often struggles under the weight of geopolitical tensions and rising nationalism, universities have quietly stepped in as powerful bridges—fostering connection, understanding and cooperation across borders.

Higher education institutions, through academic exchanges, research partnerships and transnational campuses, are becoming central to how countries project soft power and shape global narratives. From Germany’s structured science diplomacy to the Arab countries’ global engagement, and Australia’s regional integration through the Colombo Plan, higher education is no longer just a public good — it is also a strategic asset.

Soft Power: An Evolving Concept

The term “soft power” refers to a country’s ability to influence others through attraction rather than coercion. In higher education, soft power finds expression through international student mobility, collaborative research, and academic outreach. Yet, as Dr David Roberts, Reader in International Security and Middle East Studies at King’s College London, cautions, the concept is often “under-theorised” and loosely applied. “All states want to be better understood, and having people live in a country for a period is one way to potentially foster that understanding,” he says.

But beyond cultural immersion lies a deeper strategy. According to Jane Knight, Professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in Canada, what is often branded as soft power may, in fact, be more accurately described as “knowledge diplomacy”. This term includes international higher education, research and innovation initiatives aimed at mutual benefit and collaboration rather than unilateral influence. Knight’s distinction is critical: while soft power suggests influence and attraction, knowledge diplomacy emphasises reciprocity and shared progress. Knowledge diplomacy is being used interchangeably and confused with terms such as soft power and cultural and science diplomacy.

“While cultural diplomacy can include a wide range of people-to-people education and cultural exchanges, it is not broad enough to include the central elements of higher education, such as research and innovation. Rather, the emphasis is on people mobility. The more recent trend of higher education providers moving across borders to offer foreign programmes in the students’ home country is not accommodated in the notion of cultural diplomacy,” says Knight in her research study titled ‘Knowledge Diplomacy in Action’ for the British Council.

Knight cites the African Union’s creation of five regional research institutes across the continent—each focused on specific disciplines—in partnership with African and international organisations, as an example of knowledge diplomacy.

Another example is RENKEI, which means collaboration in Japanese, a university research network and knowledge diplomacy initiative between Japanese and UK universities.

Germany and the Role of Science Diplomacy

Germany, too, has recognised the power of higher education in global diplomacy. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) provides a good example of science diplomacy in action. The DAAD works to foster global knowledge networks and academic partnerships.

“From the perspective of the DAAD, international higher education and academic exchange play a central role in Germany’s soft power toolkit, better known as science diplomacy. While we cannot speak for Germany or the EU, the DAAD sees academic cooperation as an effective tool for scientific progress, international understanding, confidence-building and long-term diplomacy,” a DAAD spokesperson tells QS Insights Magazine.

DAAD initiatives range from scholarships and institutional partnerships to the establishment of Centres of Excellence abroad. “Our programmes are not designed to exert influence in a political sense,” says the DAAD spokesperson, “but to promote academic advancement, intercultural dialogue and long-term cooperation.”

The impact is multifaceted. DAAD alumni often rise to leadership roles in academia, government and industry, thereby enhancing Germany’s global reputation. “International students are also an important part of solving the shortage of skilled workers in Germany,” the spokesperson adds.

This practical advantage goes hand-in-hand with broader benefits like building goodwill and fostering international understanding.

Read the full story on QS Insights Magazine.

But one of the most noticeable things about Roccoberton’s CV is that he is also a university lecturer. He heads up the MA in Puppet Arts at the University of Connecticut, said to be the only degree of its kind in the United States. Quite frankly, you’d struggle to find a similar degree anywhere in the world.

Bart P. Roccoberton Jr has been a professional puppet artist for nearly 50 years. He has staged shows in the United States, China, Taiwan, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, France and various other countries. He has even been proclaimed as ‘North America’s Chancellor of Puppetry Education and Training for the Twenty-First Century’ by Union Internationale de la Marionnette (UNIMA); the global association for puppeteers worldwide.

“Although there are other puppetry training programmes around the world, many offer certificates of accomplishment or diplomas rather than accredited academic degrees. So, UConn Puppet Arts is a unique programme of study, internationally,” Roccoberton explains.

“In the course, our students exercise their imaginations while learning to conceive an idea. They develop scripts and storyboards, design sets, costumes, lights and sound as well as puppets. They fabricate using hand, power and digital tools to perform with different genres of puppet for stage, film, television and digital media.”

The MA in Puppet Arts isn’t unique in its uniqueness, however. Universities worldwide offer degrees in fields as varied as horology (the study of time), circus directing (‘developed to address a need across the global circus community to create a new kind of performance director’), stand-up comedy, comic art, costume technology, manga, winemaking and even foresight (which teaches students how to predict future events). Sadly, there’s no sign yet of a degree in hindsight.

Exposure to these types of courses is probably minimal: a brief news segment (Harvard’s recently-introduced Taylor Swift module springs to mind), or perhaps a spot in a ‘top 10 most bizarre degrees’ listicles. It probably raised a laugh, but might’ve also raised a bit of a snort, followed by the inevitable questions: “Why on earth would anyone want to study that?”

However, universities run on tight budgets, and new degrees aren’t just founded for a bit of fun. There must be solid business sense behind such decisions and they need to prove themselves as being valuable – not just to the university, but to wider society. These unusual degrees are no different.

Ceri Houlbrook is the programme leader of the MA in Folklore Studies at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK. In her course, students learn all there is to know about the beliefs and traditions that bind cultures together. They look at how folklore is defined, its history, contemporary traditions, migrations of beliefs and how those beliefs adapt to new environments.

Houlbrook believes there is a place for degrees like hers in higher education. “I think there’s something to be said for doing things that we’re interested in but still have value to society,” she tells QS Insights Magazine. “And there’s never a sense that students are here because they need to be here. They’re coming because they love the subject and want to talk about it. It makes a real difference knowing it’s not just about the qualification.”

What’s more, Houlbrook argues that the programme offers genuine value to students on both a personal and professional level. “It’s not just some frivolous subject where you can come and have fun for a year and you’re not taking anything beyond that,” she says. “A lot of the skills that folklorists graduate with are relevant to lots of other disciplines. The central one is the ability to understand your own culture and understand other people’s culture. That means communication and seeing value in other people come a lot more naturally to a folklorist.”

The MA in Folklore Studies tends to attract between 10 and 20 students in any given year. That may not seem like a lot, but keeping student numbers within that range is vital to maintaining the informal, workshop-style format of the course. “Any more than that would really ruin the atmosphere that we’re trying to create,” says Houlbrook.

And especially with higher education, numbers are important. If Houlbrook’s course drops below 10 attendees, they’re at risk of being cut. Similarly, if pass rates dip then administrators are likely to place folklore studies in their sights. But they remain strong. “Students are picking subjects that they’re really interested in,” says Houlbrook, “and you can really tell that in the quality of the assignments.”

As for what happens afterwards, a Master’s in folklore studies is more open-ended than you might think. Houlbrook’s students have gone on to work in museums, join heritage organisations, become teachers, complete PhDs, write books… and they’ve also simply been “doing great at opening people’s eyes to the relevance of folklore and how it’s still very much around today”.

If puppet arts and folklore studies seem a bit left-field, the bachelor’s degree in Bakery Science and Management at Kansas State University (KSU) is a little more oven-ready for the world of work. Launched over 60 years ago, it prepares students for a career in the baking industry, specifically for global baking companies such as Grupo Bimbo and Montelez that produce bread, cookies and other grain-based foodstuffs. Again, it’s the only degree of its kind in the US.

“We focus a lot on the science of baking, so what happens to the ingredients when you’re making bread or a cake,” explains programme leader Aaron Clanton. “As people graduate, they often end up in careers where they’re creating new baking products or maybe working in facilities that make the products.”

It’s another programme which may seem unusual, but it’s actually targeting a highly specific area of the enormous global baking industry, which is valued at an estimated $536 billion. “There are universities that do baking or pastry arts, but they seem to have tied more into the restaurant or culinary aspect of things,” says Clanton. “Whereas nobody else is tied into the broader food production industry. It’s not a very ‘thought-of’ career path. It’s not the fun, glamorous side of the food industry – but it’s an important part of the food industry nevertheless.”

The highly-targeted niche is proving fruitful for Clanton’s programme, and for KSU more widely. Graduates of the programme have a 100 percent job placement record after five years, with average salaries ranging between US$50k and $70k. According to Clanton, that’s above the university average. He also points to strong retention rates as key to demonstrating the viability of the degree.

Read the full article on QS Insights Magazine.