Soft power and Internationalization of Higher Education in the Light of Promoting the Status of Public Diplomacy and Foreign Policy

Power has a multi-faceted, multi-level, complex and, of course, changing concept, and its semantic structure has changed from "hard" to "soft". With the trend of the international system towards a more multipolar world in the current decade (of course, with a fragile nature and with the relative superiority of the United States), soft power gained a greater share in the equations of the international system. The main goal of this research is to investigate the international position of higher education in foreign policy and its role in the soft power of countries in the present era. In this regard, considering the new theoretical foundations of soft power in foreign policy and descriptive-explanatory method, this question and multi-level and complementary objectives have been evaluated by examining the meaning of the soft power of the higher education system and its two-way relationship with public diplomacy, What is the position and importance of the higher education system (university) as national capability and capacity in foreign policy? In response to this hypothesis, it is detailed that, higher education system is a cultural, value and social manifestation of soft power and with diversification in foreign policy, internationalization of higher education with the aim of inclining public opinion in the target countries to the goals and national interests of the implementing country in the framework of public diplomacy, it puts the capacities and abilities of the country's higher education at the disposal of the foreign policy apparatus and the realization of national interests. The findings of the research show that, there is a deep connection between soft power, public diplomacy and foreign policy and actors have succeeded in diversifying in the field of foreign policy. The official and unofficial actors of soft power are different and the most common of them include the higher education system, actors in the field of culture and sports, the media and activists in the field of economy. The higher education system, as one of the agents of soft power, has a mainly socio-cultural nature and it is the manifestation of the will of nations in foreign policy and different and similar experiences of countries indicate a tight and complex competition. On the other hand, the internationalization of higher education has made its capacities and abilities available to the foreign policy apparatus and the realization of national interests which has been neglected in Iran's foreign policy.