A Quantitative Study On The International Competitiveness Of Trade In Educational Services Of The Developed Countries And Its Inspiration

The international competitiveness of a country's service industry can be evaluated through some indices like the export market share, Trade Competitiveness (TC) index, Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) index, etc. This paper made a quantitative study on the international competitiveness of trade in educational services of the developed countries through analyzing of the above indices. The result shows that the developed countries, in general, have strong competitiveness in trade in educational services. But their specific situation varies from each other. The United States and UK have the strongest position in the global trade in educational services; Australia's trade in educational services has the fastest increase; Canada and Italy's trade in educational scrvices increases very slowly and the international competitiveness is weaker than the other 3 countries. These countries' strong international competitiveness in trade in educational services can be attributed to the preferential macro policy and micro measures of these countries to promote the trade in educational services, as well as their strong economy. For example, they make it a state policy to promote the trade in educational services, and to implement it through commercialization and market-orientation of the trade in educational services. As for some specific measures, they establish strict quality assurance system, take initiatives to promote its native language, master the market's direction and offer some preferential encouragement policy for the international students. After evaluating and analyzing the developed countries' international competitiveness of trade in educational services, this paper proposed some suggestions to improve China's international competitiveness of trade in educational services. For instance, we should become more market oriented in the trade in educational services, perfect our education quality assurance system, improve the learning environment for the overseas students in China, establish mutual acceptance systems of each other's diplomas with the target countries, promote Chinese language in the world, improve the teaching and administration quality of the higher learning institutions, cooperate with some world renowned educational institutions in research or building schools jointly to introduce in some advanced educational resources, and take initiatives to go out and explore the international trade in educational services market.