Introduction: Market Deregulation from Higher Education to Meritocratic Elitism: Reflections on the Fabrication of Inequality by the Private Sector

This introductory chapter provides a theoretical perspective on the link between private higher education development and inequality. Drawing on and referring to the following chapters, the authors discuss the historical development and structuring of private higher education markets in Africa, Latin America, and Asia and analyse their diversification and tiering. They then question the inequalities produced by and within the different private sectors and the relationship between education commodification, student clientele attraction modalities, and academic meritocracy. The analysis reveals two essential facts. First, even when the private higher education sectors satisfy the demand of a wider student clientele, they strengthen the reproduction of educational and social inequalities. Second, the segmentation and tiering of the private higher education sectors and the social inequality production processes that they fuel have political foundations. At stake are the higher education regulation modalities, mechanisms and policies in the different countries. The cross-analysis of these policies allows for comparisons of the processes of production of social inequalities in higher education between countries.