The growing importance of China as a major actor in international order has generated tremendous interest among social scientists, but scholarly debates remain in their disciplinary confines. Our study connects existing international relations research on China and the Belt and Road Initiative with two concepts in higher education…

In 2014, the Australian Government introduced the New Colombo Plan (NCP), whereby undergraduate students would become 'informal ambassadors' enhancing Australia's 'soft power' within the Asia-Pacific region. Participation by students, universities, host organisations and communities expanded rapidly before Australia's pandemic-driven closure of…

Purpose: The Australian Government has long used its international scholarship programs as an instrument of soft power in international diplomacy. The paper examines an international scholarship program and its role in Australia's soft power efforts during a period in recent history. Design/methodology/approach: The Australia in the Asian Century…

This Article analyses the effectiveness of Simulation-Based Learning Model ASEAN Meeting in enhancing critical thinking skills and academic performance compared to the conventional teaching method among 216 International Relations undergraduate students on the north coast of Colombia. A t-student test, Welch test, and the Kendall Tau correlation…

Preservice teachers are soon-to-be graduates expected to deliver the Cross-Curricular Priority 'Asia and Australia's Engagement with Asia'. Teachers of all learning areas are expected to teach about Asia, irrespective of their knowledge or capabilities in Asian contexts. The curriculum review has revised expectations for 'Asia literacy' in…

Introduced in 2014, the New Colombo Plan (NCP) represents the Australian government's signature initiative of student mobility and public diplomacy. The programme aims to expose Australian undergraduate students to the Indo-Pacific. This article focuses on analysing Australian students' experiences in Asia via the NCP. The article draws on a…

There is an identifiable gap between Australian government policy aspiration and curriculum guidance found in the content of the renewed Australian Curriculum (2018) that has been designed to support the cross-curriculum priority (CCP) of "Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia." We have employed an inductive, interpretative research…

The ongoing dissertation investigates the EU-funded Tuning Central Asia initiative, which aimed to support curriculum convergence in higher education in five Central Asian countries. The Tuning Central Asian Higher Education Area (TuCAHEA) initiative is selected as a successful case of an inter-regional project that helped to prepare the ground…

The Australian government has considered youth mobility to the Indo-Pacific to be crucial in building Australia's connection with the region. Despite a growing trend of Australian student mobility to the Indo-Pacific, there has been a dearth of research on mobility youth's agency in public diplomacy. This article makes an original contribution to…

This article describes the process of pedagogical thinking and design behind an advanced undergraduate seminar at a liberal arts college on "the international relations of the Asia-Pacific." From the perspective of the instructor, a former research analyst from Singapore who switched to academia in the United States in mid-career, key…

International relations is often confusing for students. IR theories are introduced as parsimonious and elegant and then systematically challenged as students learn more about detailed events. There are rules, there are norms, and states follow them until they don't. East Asia increases these challenges because it often undermines IR theory.…

Since 2000, I have been coordinating a web-based Virtual Exchange (VE) project, "Project Ibunka." "Ibunka" means different cultures in Japanese. It aims to provide opportunities for authentic interaction among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and English as a Second Language (ESL) learners all over the world. By the end of…

Several education hubs have emerged in Asia and the Middle East in recent years with a specific focus on cross-border higher education. Through considerable efforts in policy planning and generous funding, these hubs aim to transform a country or city into an eminent destination for education, research, and training. The inherent design of these…

Two classroom simulations--"Superpower Confrontation" and "Multipolar Asian Simulation"--are used to teach and test various aspects of the Borden versus Brodie debate on the Schelling versus Lanchester approach to nuclear conflict modeling and resolution. The author applies a Schelling test to segregate high from low empathic…

Since the late 1980s, there has been a resurgence of regionalism in world politics. Prospects for new alliances are opened up often on a regional basis. In East and Southeast Asia, regionalization is becoming evident in higher education, with both awareness and signs of a rising ASEAN+3 higher education community. The quest for regional influence…