Higher Education and Equality of Opportunity

This volume provides a broad overview of recent higher education policy in a variety of countries, both developed and developing, around the world. Using interdisciplinary methods and analysis, it focuses on how diminishing governmental resources and expanding market forces influence higher education policy in different countries in terms of access, minority status (including ethnic, national and gender groups), affirmative action, quality, and performance.

The movement to broaden access to public universities, the dominant strategy during the 1970s and 1980s, has largely shifted to enable the marketplace, rather than the government, to shape the contours of higher education. Government funding is being reduced, affirmative action and other programs designed to insure broader access are in decline and personal fulfillment is replacing a public good designed to insure greater equality of opportunities. This book explores the impact of diminishing government resources and expanding market forces in developing and developed countries to either foster or lessen equality of opportunities in higher education for different racial, ethnic, religious and gender groupings. What are the consequences of a market-driven higher education for student access, teaching and scholarship? Through case studies, this book explores issues such as access of minority groups within the larger societies, the place of foreign students in a national system, and access for students with mental health difficulties, and evaluates the success of funding schemes designed to expand opportunities and access. The research provides an interesting contrast of the diversity and uniqueness of higher education in the United States, France, Australia, India, Israel, South Korea, The Netherlands, Ghana and several other countries, while at the same time revealing surprising commonalities. These studies reveal world-wide trends in higher education including a cutback in government financing, a decline in access, and a receding of affirmative action. This book is an important addition to the literature on higher education during the age of globalization and the decline of government funding of higher education. The studies provide important data about the current situation in higher education in countries around the world.

Chapter 1 1.Introduction: Higher Education and Equality of Opportunity
Chapter 2 2.The Earth is Flattening: The Globalization of Higher Education and its Implications for Equal Opportunity
Part 3 One: America
Chapter 4 3.Challenges and Opportunities of Community Colleges
Chapter 5 4.Minority Access to Higher Education in the United States and the White-Minority Credentials Gap
Chapter 6 5.Prestige and Quality in American Colleges and Universities
Chapter 7 6.From Open Admissions to the Honors College: Equal Opportunities at the City University of New York
Chapter 8 7.The Changing American College Experience: A View from the City University of New York, Hunter College
Part 9 Two: Asia, The Middle East and Africa
Chapter 10 8.Promoting Access of the Poor through Student Loans in Asia: Prerequisites for Success
Chapter 11 9.The Quest for World-Class Status: Globalization and Higher Education in East Asia
Chapter 12 10. The Korean Passage to Tertiary Education for All: Over-Privatization
Chapter 13 11.Disparities in Access to Higher Education in India: Persistent Issues and the Changing Context
Chapter 14 12.Educational Policy toward "Homeland Minorities" in Deeply Divided Societies: India and Israel
Chapter 15 13.Improving Access to Higher Education for Students from Low Socio-Economic Backgrounds in Israel
Chapter 16 14.Higher Education in Africa: Challenges of Development and Gender
Chapter 17 15.Development of Corporate and Private Universities in Ghana: Effects on Curriculum, Faculty, Access and Equity
Part 18 Three: Europe and Oceana
Chapter 19 16.Access to Higher Education in France: Between Equality of Rights and Meritocracy, a Long Walk to Equality of Opportunities?
Chapter 20 17.Equal Opportunity in a Public System: Experiences of Ethnic Minority Students in Dutch Higher Education
Chapter 21 18.Access to Higher Education for Students with Mental Health difficulties: An Equal Opportunities Issue
Chapter 22 19.Altruism and Avarice: The Place of Foreign Students in Australian Universities
Chapter 23 20.A Dual Admission Policy: Enhancing Equal Opportunities in Higher Education in New Zealand through Merit-based Admission Policy