If much of the anger that helped boost Donald Trump to his victory in the presidential election is due to globalisation and falling living standards, then higher education may be vital to reversing it. That was one of the conclusions that could be drawn following a talk by Daniel Greenstein, director of postsecondary success at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, who was speaking at a US conference a few hours after Hillary Clinton conceded the presidential race.

Dr Greenstein told the conference of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning in Chicago that the election had shown that “the gulf between the haves and have-nots is real and it is getting wider and it is brimming with fear and anger and resentment”.

That has occurred as “the bridge to opportunity that is or should be US higher education has become narrower” he said. “It’s harder to navigate. The toll for too many is far too high.”

Unless attention continues to be paid to fixing those problems, he said, they “will leave our economy seriously short of what our economy needs to compete…higher education is something that will contribute to the nation’s success or lack of success”.

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