Educational Diplomacy
Rethinking Trade in Education Services: A Wake-Up Call for Trade Negotiators
Education plays a crucial role in fostering personal and social development, as well as economic growth. Government policies play a dominant role in this sector. Over time, trade in education services, particularly at the tertiary level, have been growing in importance. Driving factors include a combination of demographic changes, technological developments, national development goals, and governmental reforms to the funding and provision of higher education. The educational market has grown in size with more exporters entering the field to satisfy growing demand worldwide. The education sector today truly operates in a global context with institutions, programmes, and people supplying services across borders at an unprecedented scale.
Trade in education services: Market opportunities and risks
The internationalization of education services is a politically contested subject. Trade in education is debated between market liberalizers and protectionists and is played out within countries and their different stakeholders, for example between government ministries (e.g. ministry of trade versus ministry of education) and between government and the private sector (privately owned schools versus publically run schools). A balance needs to be struck between consumer protection and the rights of governments to pursue high quality education without falling into the trap of closing market access to foreign education service providers.
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Trade in Educational Services and the Doha WTO Round: the need to move out of current impasse
Saner, R. 2005. Trade in Educational Services and the Doha WTO Round: the need to move out of current impasse. Paper presented at the ECG-WTO, August 2005.
Negotiating Trade in Educational Services within the WTO/GATS Context
Saner, R. & Fasel, S. 2003. Negotiating Trade in Educational Services within the WTO/GATS Context. Aussenwirtschaft, 59: 275-308
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