Trade in Education Services under the WTO GATS Regime: An Indian Outlook

Abstract:     
Under the WTO regime the negotiations on services have already begun in accordance with the Doha Ministerial mandate. One of the important issues that will form part of this process is the trade in educational services. Presently, the negotiations are in the request-offer phase. So far India has not committed to open up this sector. But it is expected that pressure from the developed countries will ultimately lead to the opening of the sector very soon. Trade in educational service is too important for India. A thoroughly underpinning work and internal assessment is to be done before making any commitments in the WTO. In this context, this paper analyses the implementation of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) in India and implications to the sector, especially the Higher Education.

Keywords: GATS, Education Services, India, WTO

Accepted Paper Series