Diaspora-driven knowledge diplomacy: rethinking transnational education through the CIESDEMEX model in the Global South.

The migration of highly skilled professionals from the Global South has traditionally been framed as brain drain, emphasizing the loss of human capital and weakened national innovation systems; however, recent scholarship highlights the potential of scientific diasporas to enable knowledge circulation and transnational collaboration. This article aims to conceptualize how diaspora engagement, transnational education, and knowledge diplomacy can be integrated into a coherent framework for internationalization. Using a conceptual analysis approach, the study develops a multi-level model inspired by the CIESDEMEX initiative, examining how diaspora networks, higher education institutions, and policy actors interact to structure knowledge flows. The findings suggest that institutionalizing diaspora engagement and leveraging digital transnational education can transform fragmented exchanges into sustained systems of collaboration, while knowledge diplomacy provides the governance framework that aligns education, international cooperation, and development strategies. The article concludes that this integrated approach offers a pathway for Global South institutions to move beyond mobility-centered internationalization toward more inclusive, networked, and scalable models of knowledge circulation.