CQAIE

In 1999, THE CENTER initiated the formation of (NCITE), a collective voice on trade issues for U.S. higher education and training. NCITE advises the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on the upcoming round of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations related to the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), as mandated by the Uruguay Round.

Education services (including training and testing) are the fifth largest traded service in the United States. We have a major stake in ensuring that its interests as an industry are properly represented in international negotiations. Characterized as highly decentralized, education services have not historically had an organized voice for U.S. international trade purposes.

The organizing meeting of NCITE took place in Washington, DC September 13 & 14, 1999 and was attended by representatives of a broad spectrum of the U.S. education and training services area, including: commercial/corporate education interests; commercial testing interests; and full range of the higher education institutional sector, including: community college consortia and regional alliances of colleges and universities; adult education and distance education institutions, liberal arts colleges and major public and private universities.

NCITE has been collecting information on Barriers to Trade in Education. Compiling this information will assist universities and institutions engaged in the export of higher education and training. To see more information on the barriers thus far identified, take a look at the "Matrix" .