Increasing North American Higher Education Cooperation, Collaboration and Exchange Through a Trilateral Education "Marketplace"

The concept of a "virtual marketspace" grew out of a meeting of a North American tri-national advisory committee convened in Washington, D.C. in March 2000. The purpose of the meeting was to review the results of a feasibility study sponsored by the American Council on Education (ACE), la Asociación Nacional de Universidades e Institutciones de Educación Superior (ANUIES), and the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), supported by the governments of the United States, Mexico and Canada. This study was developed to test the feasibility of creating a North American marketplace to advance North American higher education cooperation, collaboration and exchange. The study was based on the identification and analysis of obstacles to exchange, description of 15 existing mobility programs, response to a survey questionnaire, feedback from advisory and reference groups, and an earlier draft concept paper and first draft feasibility study.