Charting equity in higher education: drawing the global access map

According to current figures, there will be almost half a billion higher education (HE) students around the world by 2030, up from about 200 million today. There is every reason to expect this number to continue rising over the course of the 21st century. The drivers behind the growing demand for HE among students, and for graduates among employers, are many – the principal among them being the need for higher-level skills as our labour markets and jobs change; the growth of the middle class internationally; and the role of HE study as a gateway to professional careers. The benefits of HE study to individuals and society are widely recognised. Continued study – particularly the completion of an undergraduate degree – is associated with better employment prospects and productivity, improved health and wellbeing, and greater civic engagement. The belief that those with the most education will be best equipped to thrive in today’s global economy – with all its risk, change and uncertainty – has been highlighted in several reports. It is further illustrated by one of UNESCO’s 2015 lifelong learning goals: that by 2030, we should ensure that all women and men have equal access to high quality, affordable technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university. Evidence suggests that there are considerable differences in the competency levels of people with similar tertiary-level qualifications. Indeed, as access to HE has expanded outcomes from HE study have become more varied. This makes any analysis of equity in HE access based purely on acceptance on a course or even the attainment of a degree – including the analysis presented here – an important first step, but just that, a first step. It is vital to recognise that many further steps will need to be taken before we can build a truly useful picture of access as a whole. The project we report on here examined the data that different countries and international agencies are collecting on access to HE.