Transnational Factors Influencing the Establishment of Educational Standards for Professional Licensure

The purposes of this paper are to derive a connection between the quality of accreditation and education in one country and the public protection function of professional regulation in another and to highlight the critical importance of international standards for quality assurance of accreditation and education for consumer protection. Using the United States as a case study, the author outlines the forces influencing the setting of educational standards. These forces include multinational factors such as NAFTA and GATS, the economics of professional regulation, and immigration reform in the United States. The conclusion of this paper is that the critical key to ensuring public protection within and across nations is the quality assurance of education and accreditation through international standards.