This study is the first effort to document the extent of NAFTA's impact on higher education. Through case studies, the authors analyze higher education policy in Canada, Mexico, and the USA using a common theoretical framework that identifies economic globalization, international trade liberalization, and post-industrialization as common structural factors exerting a significant influence on higher education in the three countries.

Since the mid-1970s, economic and educational developments in Canada, Mexico, and the USA have been influenced by two parallel trends: (1) the resurgence of glob al economic competition and (2) the active promotion of knowledge-intensive, serv ice based economies. Both trends have been reinforced by the liberalisation of inter national trade under the rubric of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has accelerated these trends in all three countries by providing the framework for an integrated...