Collaboration and competition in Northeast Asia: how flagship universities produce knowledge diplomacy under geopolitical pressure

Intensifying geopolitical tensions are reshaping the internationalisation of higher education, raising questions about how universities sustain cooperation amid uncertainty and competition. Focusing on Northeast Asia, this study examines how flagship universities in China, Japan, and South Korea contend with interstate political pressures while maintaining regional engagement through knowledge diplomacy. Drawing on national policy documents and institutional texts from Tsinghua University, the University of Tokyo, and Seoul National University, we identify three mechanisms: translating national policy into institutional strategies, differentiating international partnership portfolios, and sustaining meso-level programmes that enable continued engagement. These institutions are sites where the imperatives of international competition (through the pursuit of global rankings and prestige) and collaboration (through academic exchange and partnerships) are pronounced. Theoretically, the study extends the SAIOS framework by demonstrating that, while institutional approaches vary according to divergent state–university governance logics, flagship universities produce the organisational opportunity structures through which regional knowledge diplomacy persists.