SITUATING THE TÜRKİYE BRAND WITHIN THE INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION ARCHITECTURE: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM, CHINA, AND TÜRKİYE IN THE AFRICAN CONTEXT

Öz

This article aims to situate Türkiye within the international education architecture, which has become increasingly competitive in parallel with the emergence of a multipolar international order, by comparing the education diplomacy frameworks followed by Türkiye, China, and the United Kingdom (UK) in the African context, in terms of their discourse, institutional structure, and mechanisms of influence. Drawing on the widely recognised observation that established and rising actors leverage international education as a strategic instrument of public diplomacy and soft power; the article provides a fresh conceptual typology of educational diplomacy by juxtaposing Western/traditional as well as non-Western pathways of strategic influence. Accordingly, the article asserts that the education diplomacy framework of the UK centres on cultivation of elites in recipient societies through diffusion of liberal internationalist values, while that of China foregrounds economic modernisation in recipient countries particularly through technical and applied training and in a complementary way with its infrastructural-economic projects of global scale. Türkiye on the other hand as an emergent educational actor from the Global South articulates a distinct education diplomacy grounded in Türkiye’s shared religious and cultural values and moral solidarity with recipient countries, offering recognition and social integration through inclusive scholarships. The article concludes that these qualities allow Türkiye to offer an alternative brand in international higher education and to successfully fulfil its vision to become a regional education hub appealing to Africa, as well as other parts of the Global South.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Education diplomacy
• International Higher Education
• Soft Power
• Türkiye
• Africa
• Nation Branding

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