Multilateral agreements and trade in education services: implications for Ethiopia

Abstract

Driven by ease of communication, universities attempt to expand their reach to international students using various modes of education service delivery. The decision to expand is, however, not easy since many factors are in play. This study attempts to understand, mainly, the external factors that affect one of the four modes of education service delivery. Using the USA and the UK as destination countries, the study identifies national and multilateral factors that may hinder, or promote, students from various countries to choose consumption abroad as a means to satisfy their educational needs. The results show that for the USA, although GDP per capita and education service commitments of a country had negative effects, US educational aid and total education market commitment of a country associated positively with education service consumption. In the case of the UK, unlike the USA, a country’s cross-border and commercial presence commitments discouraged students from travelling to study in the UK. The study also draws implications for Ethiopia as the country tries to exploit the global education market.