The Task Force was set by the International Association of Universities (IAU) to pursue the initiative “Access to Higher Education”. In particular, the Task Force has the aim of identifying access-related issues with international resonance and formulating proposals for IAU actions. The summary report of the first Task Force meeting, held in September 2006 in Porto, Portugal, is now available.

An important conclusion in the report is the existence of a continuum of issues and concerns related to the access to higher education.

• For the developing countries, the major concern is to increase access in quantitative terms, i.e. to achieve higher participation rates;
• For the industrialised countries, the qualitative aspect is just as important: to improve success and retention rates, particularly for learners from under-represented groups.

The Task Force also recommends to IAU to produce an international Policy Statement on access to higher education. IAU Task Force on Access to Higher Education