Financing for equity in higher education

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In 31% of countries, national laws or policies make public universities tuition-free, with rates varying from 19% in Eastern and South-eastern Asia and 21% in Sub-Saharan Africa, to 48% in Northern Africa and Western Asia, and 53% in Latin America and the Caribbean, where such measures are often based on rights.
Targeted funding is provided to higher education institutions for promoting equity among specific groups in 18% of countries, as defined by their respective laws or policies.
Scholarships, grants, and loans intended to foster equity are available in 79% of countries, ranging from 50% in Oceania up to 95% across Europe and Northern America. These supports primarily assist students who face poverty, have disabilities or special educational needs, or live in certain geographical areas.
Many governments offer in-kind support, alleviating various student expenses. Nearly half subsidize accommodation, fewer than 40% help with transportation, and a little less than 30% contribute to the cost of textbooks.
Affirmative action and quotas are used to counter historical discrimination in university admissions; 32% of countries employ specific criteria for disadvantaged applicants, from 6% in Oceania and 21% in Sub-Saharan Africa to 46% in Central and Southern Asia.

Explore the policies in your country using the menu on the right.

Countries pursue different routes of varying form and intensity to mitigate the education impact of factors such as poverty, gender, ethnicity, disability or remoteness. As part of its 2020 edition on inclusion and 2026 edition on access and equity, the GEM Report compiled information on the extent to which education and social financing policies are designed to address disadvantages in higher education. The profiles were primarily prepared through desk review by the GEM Report team, complemented by commissioned research to add subnational examples for selected countries with complex institutional structures. For all profiles on the website, when they are drafted, countries are invited through their delegation at UNESCO to review and update the information. When this step of the process is complete, it is indicated on the website on the relevant page of the country’s profile with a blue tick.

Available countries: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, P.S., Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Republic of Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czechia, D. R. Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Islamic Republic of, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, DPR Korea, Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao PDR, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, F. S., Republic of Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, North Macedonia, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, the State of Palestine, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales), United Republic of Tanzania, United States of America, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, B. R., Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

CONTENT: FINANCING FOR EQUITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION

The profiles on financing for equity in higher education aim to describe the efforts of countries in improving equity and ensuring access to quality education to all by looking at four categories of financing policies:

1. Education resources to sub-national governments

This section captures resource allocation mechanisms from the central government to the lower tiers.

2. Education resources to institutions

This section includes policies or programmes that compensate institutions for being in a disadvantaged area and/or have disadvantaged students. They tend to be block grants, in addition to the capitation grants, and may be nation- or region-wide.

3. Education resources to students

This section covers education policies and programmes that directly support disadvantaged students through cash, fee exemptions, or in-kind assistance. It includes targeted admission measures for vulnerable groups, as well as scholarships, grants, and loans for higher education.

4. Support for students’ living costs

This section covers policies and programmes that help students with essential living costs, including support for transportation, accommodation, and textbooks.

Related resources

The Profiles Enhancing Education Reviews (PEER) platform has moved to a new website, https://www.unesco.org/gem-report/peer, where it now provides updated, indicator-based analysis and continuous monitoring. The current website, https://education-profiles.org/, remains available for reference but will be progressively archived; its profiles, linked to earlier GEM Reports, are no longer being updated.