I must admit to being shocked and appalled by the protectionist, defensive tone of the President’s Column (Bulletin, December 2005) opposing the proposed General Agreement on Trade in Services, and especially the opening up to “trade” in higher education services. I don’t know that the internationalists in Canadian higher education were ever consulted prior to the president taking this protectionist editorial stand.

Certainly there are Canadian academics and institutions who see themselves as world standard, and capable of competing successfully internationally. Surely a world-class higher education system has nothing to fear from foreign competition, which exists anyway, and should be eager for opportunities to market its knowledge resources globally. Why the protectionist stance?

Martin Rudner
The Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University