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Section 1
Access to higher education
This section explores recent trends in global higher education during a period of rapid expansion, but where participation rates continue to vary widely between countries, along with the extent to which access to elite forms of higher education are available to all.
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Chapter 1
Global trends of access to and equity in postsecondary education
Chiao-Ling Chien, Patrick Montjouridès and Hendrik van der Pol
Worldwide, access to postsecondary education1 has improved significantly over the last two decades. In 2013, global postsecondary enrolment reached 210,245,000, nearly 3 times higher than 20 years ago (Figure 1.1). Participation in postsecondary education, measured by the gross enrolment ratio,2 increased from 14% in 1990 to 33% in 2013 (Figure 1.2). However, such measures of the global growth in enrolment can mask stark disparities in progress within and between countries. Given the importance of advanced education to lifelong opportunities, inequality in educational opportunities raises serious concerns for underrepresented or underserved groups. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the sources of educational disadvantages and the extent to which inequality in access to postsecondary education can intensify the disadvantages faced by those lagging behind.
The purposes of this chapter are twofold: first, to identify the recent trends in access to postsecondary education; and second, to examine wealth-related inequality in access to postsecondary education both within and between countries. Assessing wealth-related inequity is particularly imperative because most countries worldwide have experienced greater internal disparities between rich and poor (Piketty, 2013/2014), making balancing the dual policy goals of access and equity challenging.
This chapter draws data from three sources to illuminate critical patterns shaping education inequalities: the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and two international household survey programmes (DHS, MICS) to measure and compare rates of participation in postsecondary education across countries. It also used the Concentration Index to quantify wealth-related inequality in different levels of education.
Expansion and massification
The massive growth of postsecondary enrolment has been driven by both individual and social demand. On the individual level, thanks to the numerous efforts made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals of universal primary education and gender equality in education by 2015, most countries have invested heavily in primary and secondary education, resulting in massive numbers of learners qualified and seeking postsecondary education. On the social level, increased public investment in postsecondary education is justified by the belief that higher-level education and training is needed to ensure sustained economic growth in the knowledge economy (Altbach et al., 2009). Postsecondary education systems in many countries thus are entering a massification or even universalization phase (see Trow, 2006, for classification). The postsecondary education systems of China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Malaysia, Mexico, and South Africa took less than two decades to leap from the elite phase to the massification phase.
Figure 1.1 Postsecondary enrolment by region, 1970–2013
Figure 1.2 Gross enrolment ratios for postsecondary education by region, 1970–2013
Middle-income countries have been the largest contributors to the explosive growth of global postsecondary enrolment. In the 1970s, postsecondary enrolment was concentrated in high-income countries, accounting for 70% of global enrolment, as opposed to only 29% in middle-income countries (Figure 1.3). The current picture, however, is very different: postsecondary enrolment in middle-income countries now represents the largest share (66%) of the global total, driven largely by progress in Brazil, China, India, and Indonesia. Their large populations and significant investment in postsecondary education have made middle-income countries the leaders in postsecondary enrolment. Conversely, high-income countries’ share of postsecondary enrolment went down to 31% in 2013. Despite this decrease in their global share, enrolments in high-income countries remain disproportionately overrepresented in postsecondary education compared with their share of youth population of the world (31% versus 14%).
Figure 1.3 Distribution of postsecondary enrolment by income groups, 1970–2013
Particularly in the last decade, low-income countries have made the most impressive gains in terms of postsecondary enrolment, albeit from a low basis. Their postsecondary enrolment nearly tripled from 2,500,000 in 2000 to 7,200,000 in 2013. Among all regions, Sub-Saharan Africa – where more than half of its countries remain low income – lags behind with a very low gross enrolment ratio of 8% for postsecondary education (2013). Given its growing youth population and increasing rate of completion for secondary education, Sub-Saharan Africa has the potential for a rapid increase in the number of people eligible for, and demanding access to, postsecondary education.
The rise of private postsecondary education and international mobility
Private institutions (see Levy, 2009, for classifications) have mushroomed in response to unmet demand (both qualitative and quantitative) for postsecondary education. In countries where student demand for postsecondary education has exceeded supply, the private sector has expanded to accommodate students who cannot attend public institutions. In addition to addressing quantitative demand, private universities are founded to address students’ need for better quality and efficiency. In Kenya and Nigeria, students are choosing to attend private universities because of both limited availability and declining quality in the public sector, as well as that some private universities offer preferred programmes relevant to workplace (O’Hara, 2010).
East Asia and Latin America have strong traditions of private postsecondary education, where the majority of students attend private institutions (Levy, 2009). Even in countries where the establishment of private institutions was a new initiative, many governments allowed and encouraged the expansion of private postsecondary education in an effort to shift students away from the heavily subsidized public sector (UIS, 2014). For instance, private universities were not permitted in Cambodia until 1997, and now over two-thirds of its postsecondary enrolment is in private institutions3 (Figure 1.4). Sub-Saharan Africa came even later to modern private postsecondary education, but its growth there is also marked (Varghese, 2006).
The growth of private postsecondary education has a number of implications that concern stakeholders such as students, their families, and policymakers. Among those concerns are affordability, accessibility, and quality. While public universities and colleges are highly subsidized by governments, private institutions need to recover most of their costs from tuition and other services (e.g. consulting). Tuition fees charged by private institutions are relatively higher, which may not be affordable for people from all socioeconomic backgrounds. Thus, students enrolled in private institutions are more likely to be from families that are able to pay the fees or from lower-income families relying on financial assistance (e.g. loans) or taking part-time jobs to finance education. This pattern is found across both developed and developing countries. In Egypt, for instance, nearly two-thirds of students in private universities come from highest quintile wealth families (Buckner, 2013). Private postsecondary education also raises concerns about accessibility. Private institutions tend to locate in populous cities and urban areas, suggesting that rural students may find it hard to attend because of costs associated with travelling and higher living expenses (Buckner, 2013; Fielden & Cheng, 2009).
Figure 1.4 Share of enrolment in private postsecondary education institutions by country, 2012
Another concern about private postsecondary education involves the issue of quality (Lemaitre, 2009; United Nations, 2014). Certainly there are not-for-profit, creditable, and even world-class private universities. However, in many emerging economies, demand-absorbing private institutions are established but quality assurance mechanisms are feeble or non-existent. Private education thus becomes a black box making it difficult for governments and parents to identify practices beneficial to students.
The global expansion of postsecondary education is also reflected in the growing numbers of students who study abroad. In 2013, over 4,060,000 students pursued postsecondary education outside their home countries,4 representing 2% of global enrolment at the postsecondary level. Besides individual aspirations, numerous national initiatives (e.g. Brazil Science Without Borders and Saudi Arabia King Abdullah Scholarship Programme) and regional initiatives (e.g. Erasmus Plus programme in Europe, and ASEAN International Mobility for Students in Asia) have contributed to international student mobility. Additionally, the global development agenda through the Sustainable Development on Education (Goal 4) aims by 2020 to substantially expand the number of scholarships available to developing countries for enrolment in higher education. The growing trend of cross-border mobility of students is set to continue.
Across regions and countries, there is great variation in demand for overseas education, as measured by the outbound mobility ratio. The Arab States, Central Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Western Europe have relatively high outbound mobility ratios (Figure 1.5). At the country level, China, India, Germany, and the Republic of Korea have the highest number of students enrolled abroad (712,200, 181,900, 119,100, and 116,940, respectively), whereas countries with the highest ratio of student mobility include Andorra, Seychelles, San Marino, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein, which are all microstates with limited to no provision of higher education and with more than half of their students studying abroad.
In many societies, opportunities to study abroad remain limited to socioeconomically advantaged groups (Hauschildt et al., 2015). First-generation college students and those from lower-income families are less likely to study abroad. The financial burden and a lack of information about opportunities to study abroad deter these students from studying abroad.
Recent developments in regional cooperation on postsecondary education and training in Africa and Asia show countries with more developed education systems assist their neighboring countries with less developed systems. Fifteen countries of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) agreed to reserve at least 5% of their enrolment capacity at tertiary education institutions for students from other SADC countries. To facilitate student mobi...
