Universities are often seen as neutral places of learning. But are they becoming actors in their own right? In this episode of Breakthroughs, HEC Paris researcher Seungah Sarah Lee explores how geopolitics, student mobility, global rankings, and emerging South-South cooperation are reshaping higher education. Drawing on studies covering more than 500 universities across 89 countries, she discusses soft power, the dominance of the US model of financing, China's growing academic influence, the future geography of internationalization, and why the spread of university fundraising owes more to professional networks than to market forces alone. Could universities become one of the defining instruments of global influence in the twenty-first century?
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