Abstract

The demand for higher education has increased substantially all over the world. Among the reasons for this trend are globalization and the recognition that in today’s knowledge economy, higher education is the instrument for a country’s social and economic survival. Increasingly economic sustainability depends largely on citizens in a country with advanced credentials due to higher education. Public higher education has other important missions such as enhancing critical citizenship and personal development in a democratic society. Most importantly, higher education is not only a critic of society, it also seeks or should seek alternative ways to address enduring social justice problems such as fairness, equal opportunity, access, and equity. To this end, public higher education in developed countries is committed to providing access and opportunity to historically excluded groups. The commitment to higher education faces serious challenges including current austerity measures, marketization, privatization, and resource reduction. This paper argues that in light of the serious challenges facing universities, the chances of high education to craft and implement broad programs to remedy past iniquities, in countries like the United States for example, have a low probability of success.