This book examines the ideas of knowledge-transfer and higher education exchange in the relationship between the European Union and countries, regions, universities and think-tanks across Asia. It critically investigates some discourses of particular relevance to the cognitive framework of the academic discipline of 'European Studies', as currently taught across a number of countries in the Asia Pacific. For this purpose, this book presents a range of theoretical explanations, drawn from notions such as the global knowledge village, intercultural dialogue, regional integration, foreign policy analysis and international education. The author offers a unique, in-depth, investigation of a range of EU policies and agendas towards Asia, scrutinizing a number of contemporary centers, curricula and exchange initiatives in the field of European Studies in Asia, and analyzing over-arching themes, such as human rights and further sheds light on the long history of the exchange of ideas and knowledge between East and West, surveying the function of educational and intellectual exchange as a developing foreign policy tool of the European Union in Asia. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the relation between Europe and Asia, within Politics, International Relations, Asia-Pacific Studies, European Studies, Education, Law and Human Rights. Dr Georg Wiessala is a Professor of International Relations at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, UK.

1. Introduction: The Asia-Europe 'www of Learning' and the 'Asia-Europe Conversation' 2. 'Lands of Charm and Cruelty': The Roles of 'Learning', 'Imagination' and 'Myth' in the Asia-Europe Encounter 3. Theoretical Perspectives on EU-Asia Inter-Cultural Contacts 4. Battling for Brains: Diplomacy between Education, Declaration and Aspiration: Knowledge-Transfer and Exchange in the EU's 'Asia Policies' 5. Maximalist Institutionalism versus Gradual Incrementalism: Human Rights, Learning and EU-Asia Relations 6. Inter-Cultural Communication in Practice: Academic Cooperation, Curriculum Development and the Discipline of 'European Studies' in the EU-Asia Dialogue 7. Overall Conclusion: The Weaving of New Silk Routes and of the Asia-Europe "www" of Learning: Successes and Drawbacks