WTO could harm SA education

2003-03-04 15:40

Cape Town - The outcome of the current World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks could negatively impact on the transformation of South Africa's education system, says Education Minister Kader Asmal.

In an address to parliament's trade and industry portfolio committee on Tuesday, the minister said the designation of education as a service by the WTO was, in itself, problematic.

"Education is surely not a commodity to be bought and sold."

The General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS) required equal and consistent treatment of foreign trading partners, and was premised on the so-called progressive liberalisation of trade in services.

This meant that with each round of negotiations, countries were expected to add sectors to their schedules of commitment to open markets.

"Thus, the pressure to allow market access to foreign (education) providers is likely to increase," he said.

Asmal said the impact of private foreign colleges or universities on African higher education had been devastating.

In the main, the movement of students and staff was from the south to the north, while the export of educational services, such as information and branch campuses was in the reverse direction.

'Unashamedly'

Four countries - Kenya, New Zealand, Norway and the United States - had, to date, requested South Africa ensure there were no limits whatsoever on service providers from those countries.

His department was not looking to exclude foreign institutions from operating in South Africa, but wanted to make sure they did so with due regard to this country's policy goals and priorities.

"It is important that we remain vigilant to ensure that increased trade in education does not undermine our national efforts to transform higher education."

One example of this was a foreign institution that had "unashamedly" targeted the recruitment of students from high-income groups, and particularly white students that would otherwise have travelled overseas to study.

"As you can imagine, the impact of such agenda on our efforts to build non-racial South African higher education institutions can be quite profound," he said.

Asmal said the government should not make any commitments regarding trade in education at the WTO talks, and called for a fundamental re-think of including education with GATS.

"The unintended consequences and costs of trade liberalisation in education cannot be underestimated," he said.

- SAPA