Against this background this book explores the crucial role played by tertiary education towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. It observes that tertiary education finds itself at a crossroad today, as national systems are pulled in several directions by a combination of factors—crisis factors, rupture factors, and stimulation factors—bringing about both opportunities and challenges. How these forces in the tertiary education ecosystem play out in each country will determine the new “perils” and “promises” that are likely to shape the contribution of tertiary education to economic and social development in the years to come.