Trade liberalisation in education services: Opportunities and risks for SADC countries

Education has become a 'commodity' widely tradable on the international market. This has resulted in the sector being subjected to multinational as well as global priorities and agreements. This paper looks at the opportunities and risks of international trade liberalisation moves in the high education sector on member countries of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). An analysis of tertiary education supply and demand conditions in the member countries as well as levels of involvement in international trade in education services was done. The world's major players in this trade were also identified and their higher education supply and demand conditions analysed. The findings shows that promotion of international trade in the sector through trade liberalisation measures in general would help provide more access opportunities for such services to students from the SADC region bearing in mind current capacity problems. However, this potential advantage can be eroded if member countries open up markets without ensuring that mechanisms are in place for international players to help in contributing to the achievement of domestic educational goals and not just their own profit motives.