CGHE 2026: Navigating the equity crisis in global HE

Across the world, governments are wrestling with how to fund the escalating costs of higher education. The global shift to knowledge-based economies, a focus on life-long learning, and the aspiration for universal tertiary education all put traditional models under strain. These new financial models have to balance a range of societal expectations: affordability, equitable access, high quality provision, flexibility and long-term sustainability.

Some countries, such as England, Canada and Australia, have chosen a high-tuition/high-aid funding model, often predicated on income-contingent student loans. Others, including much of Europe, have opted for low-tuition models to prioritise affordability, though there is also a growing private sector. Emerging economies in Africa, Latin America and Asia see rapid higher education expansion and differentiation, with fierce competition for the free or low-fee elite public universities, alongside growing tuition-charging private HE provision. Chile, South Africa, and the Philippine have recently implemented income-targeted free-tuition policies, highlighting the failings of previous systems. There is much to learn from these different models and the shared challenge of protecting the public good dimensions of higher education amidst constrained state finances.

CGHE 2026 will be held on April 23-24th. This is the centre’s eleventh annual conference, hosted by Oxford’s Department of Education. As in 2025, this will be fully hybrid, with a diverse set of parallel panels and roundtables. We particularly welcome new policy and research perspectives on the equity, justice and sustainability challenges facing higher education in the global majority world.

The CGHE 2026 plenary, to be held at Kellogg College, will celebrate the life and contributions of Professor Claire Callender, whose academic and policy interests helped prepare the ground for CGHE. Her groundbreaking work on student attitudes towards debt and its long-term consequences, along with her policy advocacy, are being taken forward by colleagues across CGHE’s international community.

We invite research students, researchers and policy professionals to propose panels and roundtables that they would like to convene at CGHE 2026, addressing these or related higher education topics. Proposals should include a title and a 300 word description, and (optionally) a list of potential/confirmed speakers and discussants.

Please send panel proposals by 15th October 2025 to david.mills@education.ox.ac.uk.