Higher Ed Community Expresses Concern Over Proposals to Global Trade Agreement

From the American Council on Education, March 27

The American Council on Education (ACE), the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) and nearly two dozen other higher education associations are expressing serious concern over the U.S. offer under consideration at the current Doha round of negotiations for the General Agreement on Trade in Services or GATS. The groups believe the proposal threatens U.S. higher education’s autonomy and undermine its strengths.

In a March 6 letter to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), ACE and CHEA state that the offer made by the USTR could leave thousands of accredited, degree-granting institutions unprotected.

The letter outlines several circumstances where higher education could be vulnerable to challenges under GATS, including transfer of credits. "The inability of U.S. institutions of higher education to make qualitative judgments in establishing minimum standards for coursework creditworthiness would compromise the quality and integrity of American higher education," the letter states.

The letter goes on to assert that the U.S. offer could also result in "differential treatment of public and private institutions of higher education" because some public colleges and universities operate pursuant to certain delegated powers of state governments, while private institutions do not.

ACE has been voicing its reservations with U.S. officials over potential U.S. GATS commitments since 2001. For background information on the issue, click here.

See also update on GATS and Higher Education

State University of New York wins Heiskell Award

The The State University of New York (SUNY) System Administration (Albany, New York) won the 2007 Andrew Heiskell Award in the International Exchange Partnership category for its "Turkish Dual Diploma Programs." Grown from roots of the Fulbright program in Turkey, the program was sponsored by a three-year $125,000 grant from the U.S. State Department. The description of the program is a useful "best practices" example.

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The American Council on Education (ACE) sent a letter this week to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs to express support for the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act of 2007 (H.R. 1469), legislation to establish a national study abroad fellowship program. The bill would create a fellowship program with the goal of increasing the number of students studying abroad from app. 200,000 currently to one million per year. Sens. Norm Coleman and Dick Durbin will introduce a companion bill in the Senate in the coming weeks.