GATS and higher education

A number of governments made communications to the World Trade Organization about opening up higher education to GATS. The United States along with a number Japan, New Zealand and Australia want the 'restrictions' to trade on higher education, adult education and education in general to be removed. They believe that this will improve, support and enhance the public education system - they apparently believe that it will not diminish the public education systems around the world (as if).

The reality is that if nations sign on to a GATS for education services it will destroy public education systems. Here's how it works:

1. All the trade barriers are to be removed and governments should not subsidise their educational sectors. However the United States says that governments can and should retain their sovereign rights to their education systems.

2. Under a GATS agreement if a government provides public funding to our public institutions then any international provider that enters the market will also be able to receive public funding equal to that provided to public institutions.

3. The United States wants to be able to flood other nations' education sectors with private education providers to the point that our public institutions will be forced to be sponsored by private industry to ensure that they receive enough money to continue educating our nation. These international providers will not always be open to the same scrutiny as public institutions and will not necessarily have to guarantee their credentials in the same way as our public institutions.

Australia cannot allow our education sector to be open to international education providers that will be able to gain access to public funding without the same scrutiny or accountability to the public. Our tertiary sector is particularly at threat from this plan of the United States. Despite reassurances from the Australian government that it will not sign to a GATS on education services can the Australian government be trusted? The answer is we will have to wait and see (but probably not)! The Australian government has lied to us before and as a nation we can't afford to let our public services like education, health and water to be commercialised. We must maintain control and ensure our sovereign rights over public services.

Let the Australian government and opposition know that you DO NOT support any attempts to liberalise trade in educational services.

Visit the World Trade Organization's website for information about the latest round of GATS negotiations.

Visit the Dept. of Foreign Affairs and Trade's (DFAT) website for information about Australia's involvement in the latest round of GATS negotiations.

The Australian Government has negotiated a Free Trade Agreement that could have a significant negative impact on public universities. Go to the FTA update for more information.