A Study On India's Higher Education Cooperation With Africa From The Perspective Of The Evolution Of Diplomatic Discourse

Under the background of economic globalization and knowledge economy,the diplomatic function of higher education has become increasingly prominent.Affected by historical and geographical factors,India-Africa relations have a long history.Since India's independence,under the changing international environment and the effect of multiple interests,India-Africa relations have developed through twists and turns,and India's higher education cooperation with Africa has also continued to deepen and expand in this process.This study takes India-Africa higher education cooperation as the research object,adopts the literature method,text analysis method,historical research method and factors and forces analysis method to study the India's policies and practices on the higher education cooperation with Africa from the perspective of diplomatic discourse and then summarize the characteristics,effectiveness and shortcomingsof the cooperation.From the initial period of india's independence to the early 1960 s,India believed in soft power diplomatic discourse.It adopted a non-Aligned foreign policy and actively sought political powers in Africa.At this stage,India's aid to African higher education was aimed at seeking political identity and political benefits to India.The aid Started with the establishment of Cultural scholarships scheme,and signing educational and cultural exchange agreements had gradually developed as the main form.In the process,higher education assistance initiatives such as India's scholarship programs to Africa,exchanges of higher education personnel and institutions,and the establishment of India's Africa research institutes had also emerged.From the early 1960 s to the early 1990 s,Indiabelieved in hard power diplomatic discourse.Diplomatic relations with Africa have begun to shift from caring political interests to economic interests,and assistance to higher education in Africa has also emphasized the integration with economic and technical cooperation.During this period,the scholarship program for Africa slowly developed,Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme emerged,and the joint universities were established by India and Africa.By the 1980 s,India's aid to Africa's higher education extended to the field of distance education.Since the 1990 s,India has gradually embraced smart power diplomatic discourse.India and Africa have gradually established a new partnerships,and they have increasingly valued higher education cooperation to Africa.The scale of traditional higher education projects continues to expand,and cooperation in ICT,agriculture,medicine and other advantageous areas have also continued to strengthen.Innovative initiatives such as Pan-Africa e-Network Project and higher education capacity building institutions have emerged.In addition,many higher education cooperation projects have gradually formed Indian brands in Africa.For example,Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT is a good examp of India-Africa cooperation.The characteristics of India's higher education cooperation with Africa are becoming more and more distinctive.Higher education cooperation has increasingly highlighted its function of serving India-Africa diplomacy,and has begun to play the role of higher education diplomacy.In terms of layout,India focuses on establishing multi-level cooperation networks for higher education in Africa and highlights capacity building.In terms of content,India pays more attention to cooperation in superior academic area,and guides the "Indianization" of African higher education.The higher education cooperation has produced great results over time.The impact of A frica scholarship programs are becoming more and more profound,and the results of scientific research cooperation are also more significant.The economic and social benefits of higher education capacity-building institutions have become increasingly apparent.Distance education projects have made major achievements.Multi-level higher education departments andpersonnel have become more frequent.However,the problems of small scale of higher education cooperation and weak project implementation ability have also arisen.There are important enlightenments for China-Africa higher education cooperation.In the process of exchanges with Africa,China should pay more attention to higher education cooperation;China should also strengthen the research of Africa and cultivate more talents who are familar to African national conditions and languages;According to African needs,China should also strengthen the cultivation of talents in the fields of African medicine and infrastructures;Strengthen higher education cooperation in the field of ICT;Using overseas branches of Chinese universities can also help Chinese higher educaiton spread to Africa.