Different approach, same focus: How China is shaping the future of its African cooperation through education

Abstract

Aid, trade, and foreign direct investments remain central to burgeoning Africa and China engagements. However, a recent analysis of the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation action plan reveals a steady shift from the material to the nonmaterial spheres. This observation stems from increasing investments in education, including Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classroom projects, scholarships, professionalized training for African media and security personnel, and China's peacekeeping operations. These people-to-people encounters are expected to expand as the Belt and Road Initiatives deepen. Yet, how these educational collaborations connect to China's quest to consolidate its African presence remains undertheorized. Focusing on Ghana's recent emergence as the continent's largest “exporter” of students to China despite its relatively small population, this study explores the significance of China's growing educational investments on future relationships between China and African countries. The research draws on relational productive power framework of knowledge production and argues that China's growing educational investments in Africa comprise state-led efforts to build social capital to shape future engagements with African countries.