Populism is forcing HE to confront its limited reach

The global rise in populism has presented new challenges for higher education, as it has for many in the public sector and civil society. Higher education is being forced to confront the limitations of its reach as political leaders from the United States to Indonesia have railed against it, presenting a different vision of progress.

The roots of populism are in the inequalities that pervade both richer and poorer countries. Higher education is subject to this pervasive inequality as much as – if not more than – any other sector and until that becomes a greater priority it will suffer.

The populist appeal has been in the main to those who have not progressed to higher education.

In the United Kingdom, US and mainland Europe, there has been clear evidence of new divides opening up between different groups of voters based around university entrance.

These divides have not happened by accident. They have been nurtured by politicians and writers keen to portray the rise of a new bureaucratic elite, usually based in cities, who have benefitted from university education at the expense of those from working-class areas facing greater economic challenges who have not.

Real frustrations

While in the US and, to an extent, in the UK, those to whom these ideas have appealed are older voters, in Europe they are often younger.

The rise in younger people supporting populist politics suggests that the rejection of higher education that populism represents is not just about the views of those who feel they may have missed out in the past, but those who could go to higher education actively rejecting the opportunity.

However, in reality this choice regarding higher education is not a choice at all and therein lies the real problem. It is easy for those in higher education to scorn the appeal of populism and those who are the standard bearers of it.

But these leaders and their parties speak to the real frustrations of those who do not have the same choices as others – over whether or not to go to university, what job or future they have, or the kind of place they live in.

A space for populism to thrive

It is the failure of the politicians whose raison d’etre is meant to be to address inequality that has created the space for populism to thrive. It is also the failure of universities to tackle inequalities in access and success, to make admitting more low-income students, those with disabilities, rural students, or students of colour a central goal of what they do, which has made them easy populist targets.

It is not the first time that I and others have written about these inequalities and how widespread and deep-seated they are, but it has to be emphasised.

In 90% of the countries in the world, we have evidence that higher education participation is unequal by social background. In some countries you are more than 20 times as likely to go on to higher education if you are from the wealthiest section of society rather than the poorest.

Higher education equity work focused on these inequalities has suffered due to the rise in populism, as highlighted in a forthcoming report by higher education expert Jamil Salmi supported by the Lumina Foundation, which describes a backlash against equity work across the world.

Birth of a new network

It has never been more important to tackle these inequalities in access and success in higher education, but to do so, a step change is needed in thinking, practice, and policy.

With the support of a range of organisations, including the World Bank, UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC), the Asia Europe Foundation, and leading universities from across different continents, we are launching the first global network focused on equitable access and success in higher education.

The World Access to Higher Education Network (WAHEN) will support any organisation committed to a vision of a diverse and inclusive global student body through a programme of capacity building, convening, and collaboration.

We want to make a strategic and practical commitment to equity central to what higher education is and does. A model of higher education that provides opportunities for only the more affluent and ignores the needs of those bearing the brunt of global inequality risks seeing higher education itself marginalised.

It is not enough to see these inequalities as the fault entirely of poorly funded schools or deeper societal problems. Universities have to take greater responsibility and press policymakers to do likewise.

WAHEN will bring together the best examples of innovative practice from across the world, create new global communities based around key parts of the equity agenda, and campaign for more inclusive higher education systems.

Our work convening the forerunner to WAHEN for five years – the World Access to Higher Education Day (WAHED) – shows that there are many universities across the world, and other organisations in the higher education sector, striving to support students from all backgrounds.

Our challenge now is to scale this commitment up. If we can’t do this, then the consequences for both those excluded from higher education and higher education itself will be stark.

Professor Graeme Atherton is director of the National Education Opportunities Network (NEON), University of West London, vice-principal, Ruskin College Oxford, and convenor of the World Access to Higher Education Network.

This article is a commentary. Commentary articles are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of University World News.