Quality, equity and the social dimension: the shift from the national to the European level

The chapter reviews our current state of knowledge of higher education’s contribution to social equity and the achievement of a just and fair society. It examines the balance between higher education’s contribution to extending opportunities and enhancing mobility on the one hand and to protecting privilege and reproducing inequalities on the other. It also reviews some policy assumptions prevalent in the European context and considers the extent to which differentiation and diversity of higher education may work to reinforce or limit wider social diversities. The chapter is part of a volume commissioned by the Flemish Ministry of Education to review progress in the implementation of the most important elements of the Bologna process in creating a 'European higher education area'.