UNESCO/OECD Forum on Trade in Education Services

The UNESCO-OECD Australia Forum on Trade in Education Services was held 11-12 October 2004 in Sydney, Australia. Titled Building Capacity for Post Secondary Education through Cross-Border Provision, the Forum had an Asia-Pacific flavour and focused on three cross-cutting themes:

bridging the divide – sharing differing perspectives on cross-border provision of education;
trade capacity building – promoting understanding of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the trade negotiation process; and
building capacity in quality assurance and accreditation in higher education.

This international forum brought together more than 250 delegates including Education Ministers, policy makers in both trade and education, students and learners, and representatives of higher education institutions, private companies, professional associations and quality assurance, accreditation and recognition agencies. In all, there were more than 15 developed countries and more than 20 less developed countries represented (from Europe, Asia, the Pacific, North and South America, Africa and the Middle East).

The forum was the third and final in a series of forums which covered different aspects of trade in education services. The first forum was held in May 2002 in Washington D.C., USA and the second in Trondheim, Norway in November 2003.

Agenda