This book is the first systematic attempt to examine one of the biggest challenges facing universities and society in the 21st century: how do we create opportunities to allow people from all social backgrounds to benefit from higher education? It examines how policymakers, higher education institutions and civil society organisations are meeting this challenge across the globe. Each chapter focuses on one of 12 countries, including the economically powerful US and Germany, developing nations from Africa and South America and the new higher education ''superpowers'' of China and India.

Access to Higher Education shows that across these different nations inequalities in higher education participation are common, but their nature differs. It argues for a new, ''nationhood'' based approach to understanding why these differences exist.