The politics of mass higher education – what role have political parties played in the expansion of higher education enrolment?

‘Education for all’ is a prominent political slogan. And indeed, educational enrolment has expanded massively globally. Yet, countries have expanded education to very different degrees, in different forms, and at different points in time. We argue that this is not a coincidence, but the result of politics. We posit that governing political parties are the crucial actor shaping tertiary enrolment expansion. We explore which governing parties have facilitated or hindered higher education enrolment in 36 democratic countries since the 1960s. Methodologically, we innovate by using mixed-effects models, i.e. by setting up a model that treats the data as cross-nested in countries, years, and cabinets. This approach is preferable because traditional macro-quantitative approaches produce incorrect estimates. Our study thus offers new insights into the (party) politics of the ‘education for all’ agenda, thereby contributing to ongoing debates in education sciences, political science, sociology, and economics.