Inequality in Higher Education: Why Did Expanding Access Not Reduce Skill Inequality?

Abstract Lack of comparable cross-country data on access to and participation into higher education (HE) among disadvantaged and marginalised communities prevents a comprehensive examination of the role of education in shaping social mobility and how this has changed following educational expansions. We use data from the OECD Survey of Adult Skills, the Programme for International Student Assessment as well as administrative and census data from several countries to provide a comprehensive cross-country overview of the relationship between, on the one hand, socio-economic background, migrant background, and place of residence, and on the other hand, HE expectations, participation and completion. We find that when a higher share of the population has access to higher education, inequalities in access and completion are lower, but inequalities in skill levels remain unchanged. This could be due to the varying degree of inequality observed at different levels of higher education; as well as to the differences in the aspirations secondary school students express of enrolling and completing HE. We discuss implications for research and policy.