This book discusses and analyses global policies and practices aimed at promoting equity in higher education participation and attainment. Although the massification of higher education systems has facilitated the participation of students from deprived backgrounds, socioeconomic inequalities persist in access to the most prestigious institutions and programmes. Privileged students benefit from a number of advantages in the competition for selective and scarce places: access to information, lower aversion to debt, higher expectations, better previous schooling and higher academic achievement. The chapters present a critical analysis of equity policies in different countries – with or without affirmative action policies, within a context of neoliberal policies or within a social democratic model – and the reasons why they have failed to promote equity and fairness, preventing students from achieving their full educational potential.
Orlanda Tavares is a researcher at the Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education(A3ES) and at the Centre for Research in Higher Education Policies (CIPES), Portugal.

Carla Sá is Assistant Professor at the University of Minho, Portugal and researcher at the Centre for Research in Economics and Management and the Centre for Research in Higher Education Policies (CIPES), Portugal.

Cristina Sin is a researcher at the Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education (A3ES) and at the Centre for Research in Higher Education Policies (CIPES), Portugal.

Alberto Amaral is Professor Emeritus at the University of Porto, Portugal and a researcher at the Centre for Research in Higher Education Policies (CIPES), Portugal.