14 January 2014This paper first sets out criteria to evaluate the inequality of opportunity in higher education. We propose a two-level classification, by distinguishing the categorial and the counterfactual approaches. For each approach, we consider dominance quasi-orderings and inequality measures. We then apply these criteria to the French higher education system, by comparing the situation in 1992 and 2004. Our main findings reveal that: (i) there is inequality of opportunity in each of the two years; (ii) even if we cannot say that the situation was unambiguously better in 1992, we can nevertheless state that the inequality of opportunity haven’t decreased significantly in the meantime.