Abstract
Internationalization of higher education is a contemporary economic phenomenon. Universities and higher level professional and technical institutions from the advanced world have crisscrossed the globe by involving students, faculty, programmes and scholars by designing very novel study courses and funding practices. The process accelerated after conclusion of General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) programme of modular and sectoral opening up of services. South Asia as a region progressed slow in terms of intra-regional services tradability as compared to other regions. But, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member countries have opened up their economies considerably though in varying degrees to trade in services including higher education with countries outside the region. This article examines the growing importance of services for the region. The analysis built on region’s services trade volumes, patterns, foreign investments, remittances, international students, trade agreements, internationalization of universities and nature of tradable services establishes the prevalence of enough scope and benefits for the region from opening up to service providers and users from the region. The development of trans-South Asian market for higher education will also facilitate the entry of global quality suppliers in the region. The article underscores the need for institutionalization of cooperation in order to make it sustainable and to avoid pitfalls.
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