Lisbon Convention - recognition of Foreign Schools

I recently spoke with the Head of the Foreign Schools Team (US Department of Education)who advised me that the fundamental standard used by the USDOE to recognize foreign schools, is the following:

THE LISBON CONVENTION (USA is a signatory): which states that once an institution is recognized by the Government of the home country, then it must be recognized by the Government of the host country (USA).

 

I wonder if you got accurate information, Mr. Evaluation. My records show that the US signed this treaty in 1997, but that it was never ratified by the US Senate, and thus did not take effect.
(See http://www.cepes.ro/hed/recogn/lisbon/signatory_states.htm for confirmation of this).

In any event, it seemed to cover only those institutions based in Europe.

A much bigger concern in these matters, I suggest, is the issue of the current protocols being proposed by WTO (the World Trade Organization), which would, in effect, declare education (and degrees) a commercial product, which must be accepted by all WTO members.

This is being vigorously opposed by folks like the American Council on Education . . . and equally vigorously supported NCITE, the National Committee for International Trade in Education, the trade organization established by the huge proprietary schools such as Phoenix, Jones International, and Sylvan.

As Professor Philip Altbach writes in this week's (May 11) Chronicle of Higher Education, "...nations would find it very difficult to regulate the trade in academic institutions, programs [or] degrees...across their borders... How would accreditation or quality control be carried out... "

Maybe we should have been 'on the streets' in Ottawa last month, too.

 

John,
Global free trade is basically a race to the bottom with respect to standards, whether they be labor, environmental or now, apparently, academic.

 

I wonder what effect these proposed WTO
protocols would have, if ratified.

Regarding the acceptance of university degrees and credits, as things stand now universites are the competent authorities in making admissions and credit transfer decisions, employers are the competent authorities in making hiring decisions, and states and localities are the competent authorities in setting licensing standards.
http://www.ed.gov/NLE/USNEI/us/uscompauth.html

It's hard for me to imagine that schools, employers, states and localities would quietly give up their rights to set their own standards and to make their own decisions in hiring, school admissions or local licensing. And it's hard to see how an American administration (particularly a Republican one) could afford to pay the political price of taking those rights from the people.

So my gut tells me that this is really just smoke. Because, if it isn't...

 

Bill, it works like this...
I am in the US and a state body (or a body receiving gov't funding) sets a standard for widgets. In Timbuktu they set a lower standard for widgets. Therefore I call the US standard a trade barrier and take them to court where a WTO panel will decide if the US has to change its standard.

This is not hypothetical, it has already happened in several cases regarding article 12 of NAFTA... corporations taking governments (including the US govts) to court over primarily health and environmental standards which they label as a trade barriers.

Let me see if I understand your question... would a republican administration take rights away from people and transfer those rights to corporations... in a heart beat (and a step faster than a democratic administration). Remember, in a free trade world the rights of capital will supercede the rights of individuals.