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The Political Psychology of Student Exchanges
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The Political Psychology of Student Exchange Programmes
Iain Wilson
Work in progress please do not cite without permission
The political rationale for exchange programmesGovernments sponsor many international education and student exchange programmes. Proponents of such programmes have justified their claims to public subsidies by arguing that they contribute to improvements in international relations. Increasingly such programmes are presented as part of governments’ “public diplomacy” strategies (Marshall Interview One, Marshall Interview Two, British Council Interview One). “Public diplomacy” is a term which is notoriously loosely-defined (Fisher and Bröckerhoff 2008: Ch1, Ninkovich 1996: 31) but there is some consensus on its essence, which excludes the use of physical force or economic pressure and includes persuading foreign publics to alter their political outlooks to the benefit of the sponsoring government (FCO 2005: 16, Fiske de Gouveia 2005: 28, Leonard and Alakeson 2000). It is implicit in most of these claims that exchange experiences affect students’ views and political behaviour, and that these changes then diffuse through the societies of their home countries and eventually affect the behaviour of the country as a whole. However, the evidence that the programmes impact on international relations is curiously weak. In the words of Stephen Bochner et al (1977: 278):
“the sponsors of international education have repeatedly justified the huge cost of the enterprise by claiming that exchange programmes self-evidently contribute to mutual understanding and international peace … [however] the evidence all too often reveals a gap between promise and reality”
Leaving aside the issue of whether the putative impact of exchange programmes diffuses through society, this paper will assess the evidence that exchanges affect the political views of the individuals participating in them in the first place.
It will firstly examine the existing evidence that this is the case and show that the existing evidence is inconclusive with many studies suggesting significant change and many showing no impact. In order to fill gaps in this evidence I have conducted a panel study of exchangees in the 2006-7 academic year and will complete another in 2007-8. The results of the 2006-7 panel show little evidence of a significant effect. However, this paper goes on to consider the possibility that some categories of participants might be expected to change their outlook while some might not. It may well be that those students who engage most with the host country are significantly affected by the experience but that this is concealed by the lack of change among more detached exchangees when they are considered as a group. If these students can be distinguished from the others in the 2007-8 panel some impact the exchange on political views (and behaviour) may be uncovered.
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The Political Psychology of Student Exchange Programmes
Iain Wilson
Work in progress please do not cite without permission
The political rationale for exchange programmes
Governments sponsor many international education and student exchange
programmes. Proponents of such programmes have justified their claims to public
subsidies by arguing that they contribute to improvements in international relations.
Increasingly such programmes are presented as part of governments’ “public
diplomacy” strategies (Marshall Interview One, Marshall Interview Two, British
Council Interview One). “Public diplomacy” is a term which is notoriously loosely-
defined (Fisher and Bröckerhoff 2008: Ch1, Ninkovich 1996: 31) but there is some
consensus on its essence, which excludes the use of physical force or economic
pressure and includes persuading foreign publics to alter their political outlooks to the
benefit of the sponsoring government (FCO 2005: 16, Fiske de Gouveia 2005: 28,
Leonard and Alakeson 2000). It is implicit in most of these claims that exchange
experiences affect students’ views and political behaviour, and that these changes then
diffuse through the societies of their home countries and eventually affect the
behaviour of the country as a whole. However, the evidence that the programmes
impact on international relations is curiously weak. In the words of Stephen Bochner
et al (1977: 278):
“the sponsors of international education have repeatedly justified the
huge cost of the enterprise by claiming that exchange programmes self-
evidently contribute to mutual understanding and international peace …
[however] the evidence all too often reveals a gap between promise and
reality”
Leaving aside the issue of whether the putative impact of exchange programmes
diffuses through society, this paper will assess the evidence that exchanges affect the
political views of the individuals participating in them in the first place.
It will firstly examine the existing evidence that this is the case and show that the
existing evidence is inconclusive with many studies suggesting significant change and
many showing no impact. In order to fill gaps in this evidence I have conducted a
panel study of exchangees in the 2006-7 academic year and will complete another in
2007-8. The results of the 2006-7 panel show little evidence of a significant effect.
However, this paper goes on to consider the possibility that some categories of
participants might be expected to change their outlook while some might not. It may
well be that those students who engage most with the host country are significantly
affected by the experience but that this is concealed by the lack of change among
more detached exchangees when they are considered as a group. If these students can
be distinguished from the others in the 2007-8 panel some impact the exchange on
political views (and behaviour) may be uncovered.
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