A new article by the Under Secretary for International Trade at the U.S. Commerce Department treats Higher Education in the United States as an exportable commodity.

Undoubtedly American higher education involves study abroad programs, student exchange programs, international student recruitment, institutional agreements between universities, and international research cooperation.  However, I wonder whether these complex academic and educational  relationships are really best described by the formulation of “exporting” higher education.

The Under Secretary’s support for higher education is certainly welcome, especially in the current climate of budget cutting, but his notion of higher education as an export commodity needs to be considered carefully by academics and educators.

The Under Secretary’s piece appears in the Chronicle of Higher Education.