This volume aims to create conversations about fairness and justice in access to higher education to counteract the ubiquitous mantras of neoliberal globalisation and managerialism. Adding to other voices that have begun to challenge globalisation and managerialism, the authors strive to carve out a strong moral and normative basis, squarely anchored in empirical knowledge of the great variety of local conditions, for opposing the mainstream developments in higher education. The volume consider how different national communities channel access to an important and scarce good, what their “implicit social contracts” are, and what outcomes are produced by different policies and methods. The authors recognise the inevitable conflict between equally worthy goals such as fairness and equity in access versus excellence in research performance, or utility and relevance for economy and society. The chapter, Overview of diverse conceptualisations of fair access to higher education, their grounding in political and moral philosophy, and their relation to current social and economic trends, provides an overview of diverse conceptualisations of fair access to higher education, their grounding in political and moral philosophy, and their relation to current social and economic trends.