Student Choice in Higher Education—Reducing or Reproducing Social Inequalities?

Abstract

A hallmark of recent higher education policy in developed economies is the move toward quasi-markets involving greater student choice and provider competition, underpinned by cost-sharing policies. This paper examines the idealizations and illusions of student choice and marketization in higher education policy in England, although the overall conclusions have relevance for other countries whose higher education systems are shaped by neoliberal thinking.