This paper explores the interplay between academia and geopolitics, revealing how universities have become battlegrounds for national security interests. The paper unveils four dimensions: security-driven internationalization constraints, the allure of global talent mobility, the digital espionage in academic settings, and the politicization of knowledge. In a world of intensifying rivalries, the article presents urgent questions about preserving academic freedom amid competing national desires in a context where higher education is crucial for development and innovation.

Higher education is profoundly intertwined with geopolitical and national security dynamics, and universities are subject to international influences, security issues, policy agendas, and national interests. Relevant topics in our field include international students and national security; research collaboration and espionage; campus radicalization and extremism; regional cooperation; high-skilled migration; soft power; authoritarianism and repression on campus; and the global impact of China. Here, I focus on four topics: internationalization and security dilemmas; talent mobility and security; cybersecurity and digital espionage in universities; and the politicization and weaponization of knowledge.

Internationalization and Security Dilemmas

Current events around higher education institutions in the United States showcase higher education as a site of political conflict. The government’s mandate to proscribe all offices related to diversity, equity, and inclusion that collaborate with higher education institutions, funding cuts for international cooperation projects, the cancellation of 83 percent of USAID’s collaboration projects, and the discontinuation of Fulbright scholarships without prior notice all exemplify ways in which higher education can be leveraged for geopolitical ends.

Following September 11, 2001, concerns regarding internationalization dynamics and student exchanges were expected to continue in terms of attracting international talent and restricting some nationals from studying abroad or studying certain subjects. Nationalism has also affected relations between higher education institutions and national authorities: higher levels of nationalistic policy making have coincided with increased efforts by governments to control what academics do and research.

However, this phenomenon is hardly restricted to the American context. Three well-documented occurrences illustrate a similar dynamic operating elsewhere in the world: the relocation of the operations of the Central European University in Hungary to Vienna; the government take-over of the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, and the gradual destruction of institutions like the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE in Spanish) in Mexico.

Talent Mobility and Security

Talent mobility is another contentious area. Outside of the European Union, open regional borders for highly skilled migrants and students were nonexistent decades ago. While North America was the first region to sign a free trade agreement, talent mobility was excluded. Individual countries have, however, enacted policies to attract talent. For example, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom—and even China and India, long known as primarily sender countries—have modified their migration policies to become receiving countries.

More comparative research is needed to understand policy changes and patterns and provide theoretical explanations behind these changes. We need to study cases like Latin America which, compared to other regions, is not part of the global talent exchange landscape, despite attempts at participation. Latin America currently hosts only about 2.2 percent of the world’s international students each year. Mobility out of the region also raises important questions. Over 50 percent of skilled Latin American immigrants in the United States work in jobs that do not match their training level​. Similarly, Brazil and Mexico each account for only about 0.5 percent of approved H-1B visa petitions​ (visas for highly skilled migrants) in the United States, a very slim amount in comparison with other countries like India (60 percent).

Cybersecurity and Digital Espionage in Universities

One of the main challenges for universities is to increase their capabilities while preserving openness and collaboration. Concerns regarding espionage and intellectual property loss are expected to continue to rise in many countries as part of policies toward developing science, technology, and innovation and controlling high-skilled migration. Security concerns affect relations with some countries, such as the case of China in the United States. Scholars of certain nationalities (i.e., Iranian or Russian) also face employment restrictions in different parts of the world.

Politicization and Weaponization of Knowledge

Higher education can be instrumental in influencing ideologies, imposing agendas, and obtaining technological advantages. An important issue to be included in the research agenda are discussions around policies to maintain independence while balancing national and global security.

States use academic institutions to exert soft power, gain technological advantage or attack ideological enemies. Examples include political situations during the governments of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil (2019–2022), with ideological interventions in the selection of university rectors (presidents); Evo Morales in Bolivia (2006–2019), with the increase of political control over the public university system; and Nayib Bukele in El Salvador (2019 onward), with the surveillance of academics critical of government policies. These regimes, while ideologically dissimilar, have all attacked higher education institutions as enemies of their governments and used financial leverage to influence institutional policies.

Final Remarks

In a world full of geopolitical tension and mistrust, higher education research needs to examine ways to preserve higher education capabilities, openness, and collaboration. This should form a critical part of the global academia and national security agendas.

Alma Maldonado-Maldonado is researcher at the Departamento de Investigaciones Educativas (Educational Research Department) at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies (CINVESTAV) in Mexico City, Mexico, and editor of the weekly educational blog of the magazine Nexos(https://educacion.nexos.com.mx). E-mail: [email protected].