ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts discussed in the preceding chapters in this book. Given the growing importance of lifelong and lifewide learning in all societies today, the democratization of higher education is an important development in the modern era. The general topic of democratizing education is a topic that has a long history and much has been written about this general topic area. This book discusses the on-going changes in higher education and proposes a democratic theory of higher education that maintains that the ultimate purpose of higher education is to promote personal agency through the development of freedom and responsibility. This implies that opportunities to learn should be equal and equitable. The most fundamental opportunities are access to and participation in lifelong learning. This can only be achieved by moving from a mindset of exclusivity, which is oriented around power and privilege claims, towards a mindset of inclusivity, which is oriented around fairness and self-determination claims.
