The Importance of Universities and their Networks in Science Diplomacy at European and Global Levels

The notion “science diplomacy” (SD) increasingly draws attention of both academics and policy-makers. Nevertheless, its definition requires further conceptualization. One of its main defining characteristics is involvement of state actors, while SD conceptualization from the standpoint of non-state actors is still not common. At the same time, the activities of universities seem to be significant to the success of SD. Consequently, this paper aims to determine why and how Swiss universities engage in SD at European and global levels. It is based on the analysis of documents and website materials of Swiss organizations involved in SD; participant observation of online events related to SD; conducting semi-structured interviews with representatives of Swiss universities and other organizations, engaged in SD; social network analysis using Gephi software in order to visualize the membership of Swiss universities in transnational networks at European and global levels. The case of Switzerland was chosen due to its high level scientific achievements and long-standing tradition of SD. Switzerland occupies leading positions regarding the internationalization of education and scientific research, including the share of universities and scholars taking part in international networks. Swiss SD is now institutionalized as a valuable component of the Swiss Foreign Policy. One of its main tools is Swissnex, a network of science and technology offices and counselors at the Swiss representations abroad which support relations of Switzerland with the foreign innovative centers. According to one of the conceptualizations of national SD approaches, Switzerland concentrates on promotion of scientific interests, international scientific cooperation and bilateral relations. Exerting influence in the world politics or to deal with global challenges is not their main priority which is understandable taking into account a small size of a country and its neutral status in international affairs (Flink and Schreiterer, 2009). However, this paper shows that Swiss universities play an important role in SD not only with regard to national needs, but also European and global ones. At the European level, Swiss SD is not only often seen as a model, but Swiss universities can be also seen as objects of the European Union (EU) SD. Although the EU is Switzerland’s most important partner, the negotiations over the Swiss status in the EU Framework Research Programme provides an interesting case of SD, which shows how scientific cooperation is used by the EU in its foreign policy. At a global level, Switzerland (in particular Geneva) is headquarters for many international organizations, such as UN agencies, dealing with “global challenges”, and serves as arena for generation of a global discourse related to SD, including in collaboration with Swiss higher education institutions. Thus, this paper contributes both empirically and theoretically to the scholarly debates related to the SD as a concept and practice.