Please Enlighten Me: What Does the World Trade Organization Have to Do with the Liberalization of Higher Education?

Abstract

In the last decade, the education community has been reacting harshly against the inclusion of education in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). That community highlighted that the GATS should exclude education from the coverage of the agreement, since the GATS contains an exception for "services supplied in the exercise of governmental services." The main criticisms referred to the sector of higher education where claims suggested that (i) the GATS would threaten the capacity of Members to provide public funding for higher education, (2) oblige Members to allow foreign education institutions to supply courses, and (3) oblige Members to automatically recognize foreign diplomas.

This paper argues that, according to the ordinary meaning of the GATS, a possible interpretation of "services supplied in the exercise of governmental services" will not render higher education out of the GATS scope. Nevertheless, the flexibility of the agreement allows Members to nullify or mitigate all the alleged negative effects of the GATS, if the agreement is to be understood as posing threats to domestic policy makers. This paper also presents an updated overview of Members' position on the topic addressing potential risks and benefits of the GATS in relation to the liberalization of higher education.

Keywords: WTO, GATS, GATT, Higher Education, Liberalization, Public Funding, Recognition of Diplomas, Accreditation