Financing Access and Equity in Higher Education

The demand for higher education worldwide is booming. Governments want well-educated citizens and knowledge workers but are scrambling for funds. The capacity of the public sector to provide increased and equitable access to higher education is seriously challenged. What are the on-the-ground realities of developing financial resources and policies to meet the twin goals of equity and access without jeopardizing quality? This volume provides in-depth reports from selected countries and sub-regions: Morocco, Korea, England, Uganda, Poland, Oman , East and southern Africa, Southeast Asia, Brazil, and Egypt. Each chapter is written by a seasoned educator participating in the Fulbright New Century Scholar program for 2007-2008. Given the near-universal constraints of declining resources but increasing enrollments, the authors identify common trends such as the public/private divide, the privatization of the public sector, and diversification of funding. To address these issues, the chapters examine a surprising variety of policy instruments such as means testing, targeted subsidies, cost sharing, institutional aid, student bursaries, and tax exemptions. Policymakers, academic leaders, higher education organizations, and researchers will find significant, provocative, and cautionary lessons in these reports from around the world.