Merit and Equality in Higher Education Access
Résumé
In a democracy, all individuals are considered equal and access to education should not depend on inherited privileges. This global and longstanding trend from a priority given to inherited merit to the issue of fairness in admission process (Clancy and Goastellec 2007) is rooted into the emergence of post-industrial societies. The idea that educational opportunities and social positions should be considered along with one’s individual merit (Bell 1972) has been strongly institutionalized in modern society (Sennett 2002).
Access to higher education has profoundly changed, whereas higher education systems have grown everywhere and even become universal in most Western countries, with more than 50 % of an age group reaching this level of studies (Trow 1974). Access has become increasingly more competitive and yet a given for many young people, even a kind of new social right in the Scandinavian countries (Aamodt...