Solving the Soft Power Gap: A Strategic Approach to U.S. International Student Recruitment

Abstract

Research from this study found that there is a ‘soft power gap’ which accounts for underutilized educational soft power created by a misaligned US international student recruitment strategy. Seeking ways to close the ‘soft power gap’, this study aimed to evaluate what is the most effective US international student recruitment strategy to advance the country’s strategic national interests abroad. Methods to conduct this study involved empirical evidence from mostly qualitative data, but also some analysis of quantitative data. Responding to the ‘soft power gap’, the two-pronged argument of this study states that: 1) when international students from small Arab nations come to the US, they forge durable channels of cross-cultural communication, and 2) international students’ return home is crucial for the US’s strategic national interests because they transform the regional environment of their home countries so that the US reaps strategic soft power benefits. The results of this study found that a strategically focused educational exchange model that targets small Arab nations has a significant impact on capturing American soft power abroad through democratization of foreign countries’ leadership and decreasing threats of violent extremism.