This paper addresses some theoretical and empirical challenges of using the 'normative power' approach to studying the European Union's (EU) higher education policies towards Asia and sectoral (inter)-regionalism in the new context of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its accompanying education and science policies. Based on the case of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) education process which began in 2008, the paper explores the mechanisms through which the EU has used this ASEM policy space to synchronise Asian higher education with the Bologna Process and create a new sectoral governance model by projecting its norms and values, such as quality assurance, cross-border mobility, academic freedom and autonomy. 'Normative Power Europe' in its relations with Asia is seen as a normative means to create regions of higher education. However, the EU's ability to shape conceptions of 'normal' in international education relations is challenged by the new type of normative power exerted by the BRI people-to-people exchange policy with concrete measures including the University Alliance of the Silk Road and a large-scale scholarship scheme for students from the countries along the Belt and Road. Hence, this paper argues that normative power is not only determined by the universality of norms it projects to other regions, but also by the underlying logic according to which it acts and shapes the outcomes. Using March and Olsen's theory of Logic of Consequences and Logic of Appropriateness, the paper critically analyses and compares the EU's norm-based principle and China's geo-economic approach to region-building projects.
