Domestic and Foreign Approaches to Working with Foreign students: “Personnel Reserve” vs “soft Power”

Abstract

The goal of this study is to reveal the country-specific features of approaches to working with international students, as well as to determine their key strategies. In the modern world, education is becoming a new platform for competition between states, because its function is not only to provide knowledge but also to form the consciousness and outlook of a young person. Accordingly, states seek through educational institutions to promote around the world their national development models, value systems and cultural elements. The ultimate goal of such a policy is the creation of a pool of staunch supporters around the world who after return to their homeland will relay the “gained knowledge” upon the society. However, are states only driven by this goal? Of course not — a lot of countries are focused on attracting foreign students to include the most talented and gifted of them in the national “personnel reserve”. The danger of the latter approach lies in the formation of constant dependence on “external brains”.