Higher education retains a deep power to transform lives. But there are limits to university influence in conquering cultural prejudice and redressing systemic economic inequities, particularly as the UK continues to suffer from regional economic inequality and lagging productivity. The new Labour government has adopted “opportunity” as one of its five core missions and the structuring theme of its education policy. But as students struggle with meeting the costs of study and with their mental health, we’ll interrogate the existing assumptions around what education opportunity means across the nations and regions of the UK and think through how higher education can continue to deliver it.