Araştırma Makalesi | Açık Erişim
UFÜ Sosyal ve Beşeri Bilimler Dergisi 2026, Clt. 2(4) 86-106
"American” as Intercultural Brokerage: A Typology of Country-Branded Higher Education, Local Adaptation and Soft Power
ss. 86 - 106 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.29329/ufusobed.2026.1465.5
Yayın Tarihi: Temmuz 07, 2026 | Görüntüleme Sayısı: 1/4 | İndirilme Sayısı: 2/6
Özet
Over the past century and a half, and with particular acceleration in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, universities outside the United States have adopted “American,” “United States,” or closely related American identity markers in their institutional names. This article examines that phenomenon not simply as branding, commerce, mimicry or soft power, but as a project in intercultural brokerage. The central argument is that the “American” university abroad occupies a mediating space between American academic culture and local or regional educational, political, economic and social needs. At its strongest, the model translates liberal education, student-centered pedagogy, English medium instruction, institutional autonomy, professional preparation and accreditation culture into local contexts without simply reproducing the United States abroad. At its weakest, it reduces “American” to a marketable sign of prestige, mobility or modernity. The article proposes a five-part typology of Americanness in global higher education: legacy/institutional Americanness, nation building Americanness, operating-system Americanness, market Americanness and nominal-symbolic American ness. It also distinguishes country-branded American universities from branch campuses, joint universities, microcampuses and licensure-pipeline institutions. The article concludes that the “American” label is best understood as a polyvalent intercultural signifier: its meaning is produced through the relationship between institutional practice, local aspiration, global mobility, quality assurance and the changing symbolic position of the United States in world affairs.
Anahtar kelimeler: American universities abroad, countrybranded universities, interculturalism, higher education branding, soft power, transnational education, Northern Cyprus, academic accreditation
APA 7th edition
Ayouby, K. (2026). "American” as Intercultural Brokerage: A Typology of Country-Branded Higher Education, Local Adaptation and Soft Power. UFÜ Sosyal ve Beşeri Bilimler Dergisi, 2(4), 86-106. https://doi.org/10.29329/ufusobed.2026.1465.5
Harvard
Ayouby, K. (2026). "American” as Intercultural Brokerage: A Typology of Country-Branded Higher Education, Local Adaptation and Soft Power. UFÜ Sosyal ve Beşeri Bilimler Dergisi, 2(4), pp. 86-106.
Chicago 16th edition
Ayouby, Kenneth (2026). ""American” as Intercultural Brokerage: A Typology of Country-Branded Higher Education, Local Adaptation and Soft Power". UFÜ Sosyal ve Beşeri Bilimler Dergisi 2 (4):86-106. https://doi.org/10.29329/ufusobed.2026.1465.5
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