The Impact of the GATS on Transnational Tertiary Education - Comparing Experiences of New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Elsa

This paper examines the impact of the World Trade Organization’s General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) on transnational higher education in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, and Malaysia. It defines offshore education as cross-border delivery by institutions to students in different countries. The study contrasts exporter commitments with Singapore and Malaysia’s lack of commitments and evaluates how renegotiations within the Doha round may reshape tertiary education.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

GATS and international trade in tertiary education

Supporters versus opponents of educational trade

Country comparison and definitions

The Impact of the GATS on Transnational Tertiary Education: Comparing Experiences of New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia Christopher Ziguras RMIT Globalism Institute Abstract This paper examines the impact of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) on transnational higher education in four countries: New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia. The GATS is a multilateral agreement through which WTO members commit to voluntary liberalisation of trade in services, including education. Transnational (or offshore) education refers to education that is delivered by an institution based in one country to students located in a different country. Two of the countries considered, New Zealand and Australia, have made commitments under GATS to allow relatively unrestricted cross-border provision of education in their countries, while the other two countries, Singapore and Malaysia, have made no such commitment. There is currently considerable activity in renegotiating countries’ commitments to GATS as part of the Doha round of WTO negotiations, and simultaneously bilateral free trade agreements are being proposed between countries in the region. In this context, this paper examines the practical impact that GATS has had on these two countries that have made commitments regarding education, and the likely impact that similar commitments by Malaysia and Singapore would have on the tertiary education systems in those major importing countries. Introduction Discussion of international trade in tertiary education has become distinctly polarised in recent years, as proponents and opponents of trade liberalisation focus their attention on the millennium round of negotiations over the General Agreement on The Australian Educational Researcher, Volume 30, Number 3, December 2003 •89 CHRISTOPHER ZIGURAS Trade in Services (GATS) . The World Trade Organization (WTO) is leading efforts to liberalise trade in services through GATS, which is the first multilateral agreement to provide member countries with legally enforceable rights to trade in services (WTO 1995) . Countries that join the GATS process make a commitment to ongoing liberalisation of trade through periodic negotiations. GATS came into force in 1995, and the first major round of renegotiations of countries’ commitments (the millennium round) is currently taking place. Supporters of freer cross-border provision of tertiary education are optimistic about future liberalisation and see the GATS framework as one means of achieving this (United States International Trade Commission 1997, section 4. 11) . The United States is actively promoting further liberalisation of trade in education services, asserting that the presence of foreign education providers ‘increases the variety and amount of education services available to WTO members’(WTO 1998, p. 1) . Accordingly, the UShas argued that countries’ policies on transnational education should ‘be reviewed and the restrictions liberalised to the greatest extent possible’(WTO 1998, p. 2) . Such deregulation is in the interests of nations that export transnational education, such asthe United States, Britain and Australia. The Australian government has likewise signalled its intent to ‘pursue negotiations on education services in order to encourage liberalisation commitments from WTO members and greater market access to sectors of our trading partners’(DETYA 2000a, section 2.1.5) . Meanwhile, opponents of educational trade see the GATS as increasing the power of multinational institutions at the expense of public education providers and democratic control over education policies. The WTO has been widely criticised for its lack of interest in the non-marketable value of the spheres of activity it seeks to liberalise. The Association of University Staff of New Zealand, one of the few countries that has committed fully to free trade in tertiary education, lamented that the

FAQs

What does the paper analyze about GATS and higher education?

It analyzes how WTO-GATS affects transnational tertiary education across New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, and Malaysia, comparing the practical outcomes of differing commitment choices.

Which countries are treated as exporters or net importers in the study?

New Zealand and Australia are discussed as education exporters with GATS commitments, while Singapore and Malaysia are treated as net importers without such commitments.

How does the paper define transnational (offshore) education?

It defines transnational education as education delivered by an institution based in one country to learners located in another country.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Elsa