In developing countries, higher education is a powerful instrument for social mobility and economic prosperity. An in-depth study of the relationship between higher education and certain equity issues has revealed that in Ghana and Tanzania there is inadequate effort to widen higher education participation to include traditionally disadvantaged groups. The article argues that provided they have strong and visionary leadership, universities can spearhead efforts to make higher education accessible to such disadvantaged groups through the judicious use of their admissions and selection criteria, and the mounting of special make-up and support programmes.