Yan Xuetong: how to teach International Relations amid job scarcity and looming student interest

Head of International Relations at Tsinghua University tries to add to the appeal of a discipline often perceived as distant from employment opportunities and everyday realities.

In China, education has long been esteemed for its capacity to unlock socio-economic advancement. However, due to the perceived irrelevance of academic knowledge to employment opportunities, there is diminishing enthusiasm among students for International Relations studies. It is thus argued that a realignment of teaching objectives is needed to foster varied competencies and practical skills tailored to the divergent career paths of Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral graduates.

To increase learning interest, it is also advisable to diversify materials for discussion, leverage real-life contexts to make the subject matter more relatable, and encourage the use of artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT for assignments.

Yan Xuetong, the proposer of the above suggestions, is the director of The Institute of International Relations at Tsinghua University. He also serves as the Secretary General of the World Peace Forum. Prof. Yan obtained his Ph. D from the University of California, Berkeley in 1992 and was named one of the world's Top 100 public intellectuals by the American journal Foreign Policy in 2008. He is the founder of IR moral realism and the only Chinese political scientist listed in Most Cited Chinese Researchers by Elsevier from 2014 to 2019. Some of his books were translated into English, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Farsi and Albanian.

Drawn from his speech at an annual meeting amassing political science and IR faculty members from across Chinese universities and originally published on Chinese Social Sciences Net under the auspices of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) on January 19, the following article by Yan Xuetong is also available on Tsinghua University News.

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International Relations Pedagogy under New Circumstances

The proverbs that "a man who is superior in study should serve as an officer" (学而优则仕, from The Analects of Confucius) and "A mansion of gold emerges from the book" (书中自有黄金屋, implicating the financial returns of education) have significantly influenced Chinese societal norms for millennia. Whether embraced or contested, these principles have consistently motivated young individuals towards academic pursuits. Historically, the potential for education to alter one's socio-economic status has driven a fervent passion for learning among students. However, this enthusiasm tends to wane when the knowledge gained from education seems unrelated to employment. The contemporary challenge of job scarcity post-graduation further exacerbates doubts regarding the significance of learning specialized knowledge. This issue is particularly pronounced in the field of International Relations, where the relevance of academic knowledge to employment is extremely low, leading to a diminished drive among students. Addressing this challenge necessitates an adjustment in both the contents of the curriculum and methods of teaching to rekindle student interest in their studies.

Adapting teaching objectives to the trend of professional knowledge being unrelated to employment

While educators may not have the capacity to alter the disconnection between professional knowledge and employment opportunities, they can significantly influence the effectiveness of teaching by realigning their objectives to better suit the current job market realities. The divergent opportunities for Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral graduates in International Relations underline the need for tailored teaching objectives at each educational level.

For Bachelor's degree holders in International Relations, the prospects of directly securing roles related to their field of study are notably slim. In light of this, teaching objectives for undergraduate International Relations programs should pivot towards rectifying misconceptions and enhancing objective analytical abilities, rather than focusing on imparting specialized knowledge within the field. The pervasive influence of social media has led to widespread misconceptions among undergraduates about the nature and dynamics of International Relations, necessitating an educational approach that prioritizes the correction of these misperceptions.

A prime example of such a misconception is the belief that non-alignment is inherently associated with socialist countries' foreign policies. This misunderstanding overlooks historical shifts, such as China's alignment policy from 1950 to 1980, followed by its adoption of a non-alignment policy since 1982, illustrating that foreign policy alignment is not inherently tied to a country's political system but is rather based on shared security interests. Educators should first emphasize that alignment decisions are not tied to a country's political system before clarifying that they are based on common security interests.

I believe that the primary goal of teaching International Relations at the undergraduate level should be to demonstrate the fundamental principles of International Relations, which often diverges significantly from personal biases. By emphasizing the importance of viewing one's own country through the lens of others, educators may not directly facilitate job acquisition for their students but can become instrumental in developing informed and critical thinkers who are open to recognizing their misconceptions with a commitment to truth-seeking.

Master's graduates in International Relations have more employment opportunities than undergraduates, but these positions are often clerical rather than research-focused. Success in these roles relies more on interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence (EQ) than on academic knowledge. Therefore, incorporating EQ development into the curriculum for courses like "History of International Relations" and "Introduction to International Relations" could be advantageous. Diplomatic roles, predominantly clerical and involving significant interpersonal interaction, require high EQ for effectiveness. For example, following the Gaza conflict, Israel's representative to the United Nations resorted to "Wolf-Warrior" Diplomacy, offending UN Women. This approach led to a heightened backlash against Prime Minister Netanyahu's government, highlighting the significant influence of diplomatic behavior on global perceptions. Integrating historical micro-events into the curriculum for graduate students can demonstrate the critical role diplomats play in either safeguarding or jeopardizing their national interests through the management of interpersonal relationships. Such an educational focus helps to bolster students' EQ and their proficiency in navigating complex interpersonal dynamics effectively.

As the number of schools offering International Relations programs decreases in China, the prospects for Doctoral graduates to secure academic roles within their specialization are diminishing, compelling many to pursue employment across various disciplines. To navigate this shift, Doctoral programs must prioritize enhancing students' proficiency in utilizing advanced digital technologies for research. Employers interested in hiring cross-disciplinary Doctoral graduates place greater emphasis on their research methodology skills demonstrated in their doctoral thesis, especially their ability to employ innovative research methods, rather than the specific content of the research. Therefore, Doctoral education should focus on strengthening students' research skills, particularly in the application of scientific research methods for problem identification, analysis, and resolution. Adopting this educational focus will improve students' competencies in leveraging digital technology tools effectively.

Attaching greater importance to increasing learning interest

Boosting students' enthusiasm for learning is vital for enhancing the effectiveness of education. To foster increased motivation among students, consider the following strategies:

• Introduce materials that present diverse perspectives for student discussions. The prevalence of the echo chamber effect often solidifies students' misconceptions about international relations. By providing resources that showcase varying viewpoints for comparative analysis, students are encouraged to engage in debates. This desire to argue and defend their views can motivate students to proactively explore more professional articles and works, actively participate in classroom discussions, and build up confidence in their understanding of the subject. Moreover, reading and discussion sessions can help students identify their cognitive biases, profoundly alter their perspectives, and significantly enhance their motivation to learn.

• Leverage students’ questions as the core of discussions. This approach, more dynamic than relying on instructor-prepared questions, resonates well with students' natural curiosity and their desire to explore complex issues. Students may raise questions out of all sorts of motivations, for instance, using the paradoxes of Zeno to question whether China can surpass the United States in terms of comprehensive national strength. This question directly engages with the concept of national power dynamics, and a discussion around the question facilitates a comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing global power shifts, the decline of established hegemons, and the rise of emerging powers. By engaging with these unpredictable questions, students can become more invested in the learning process.

• Integrate teaching content with real-life contexts. Students are more inclined to connect with and understand concepts that resonate with their personal experiences, as opposed to parochial lecturing. For example, the colossal impact of deglobalization on China — including its economic growth, job market, consumer prices, academic collaborations, and opportunities for studying abroad — provides tangible examples that students can directly relate to. By leveraging examples from students' own lives, educators can deepen their understanding of international relations in a more relatable and impactful manner, boosting their enthusiasm for exploring the field.

• Encourage students to utilize Artificial Intelligence for homework assignments. This can not only enrich students' learning process but also enhance their employability skills. Tools like ChatGPT, which can generate essays, allow students to use ChatGPT to draft an essay on international relations and then apply their subject knowledge to refine and improve the content. Today's students are indeed "digital natives," adept at navigating and incorporating digital tools into their learning processes. Encouraging the use of intelligent tools for academic tasks can thus tap into the students' curiosity, leverage their natural advantages in the digital realm, and boost their motivation for studying International Relations.