Assessing barriers to trade in higher education within the context of the general agreement on trade in services (GATS) in Tanzania

This study explain barriers to trade in education within the context of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) in Tanzania. The study mainly focuses on assessing barriers to trade in higher education using tome series data for the period 1980 to 2007. It employs econometric analysis in which the Ordinary Least Square technique is adopted and applied for regression analysis. Stata 10 is used for econometric analysis. Econometric findings show three out of five variables were significant on contribution to dynamics of international mobility of students to Tanzania. The estimation results for the regression equation show that the unit increase of GDP per capita, tertiary school enrolments and teacher student ratio are the key determinant of international students to flow in the higher learning institutions in Tanzania. It is recommended that the government should be aware on increasing the number of enrollments in higher learning institutions. Also the policy makers need to understand that there is a significant positive link between trade in higher education and economic growth processes. Apart from that, there should be encouragement of the private sector and foreign providers to invest in higher education sector by formulating appropriate higher education policy that accommodates liberalization processes within the context of GATS.