This paper examines at how the rapid advance of technology is transforming education and educational institutions, particularly universities and higher education. The paper contends that the ultimate purpose of education is human resources development and that contemporary communication and information technologies hold the potential for re-engineering traditional education and for creating new information-era learning communities. The paper discusses: (1) the development of Pennsylvania State University as a land grant university and its recent work in futures planning for institutional change in response to new technological and global developments; (2) the global context of technological development and the world economy; (3) human resources development and strategic planning for human resources development, focusing on economic and technological variables and on analysis of organizational change; (4) American education and its need for equity and quality, particularly in the elementary and secondary school levels; (5) a proposed role for land grant "communiversities" as a means to meet society's educational needs; and (6) collaborative educational developments in various parts of the Pacific Rim as an example of an emerging "globalversity." The paper concludes with a call for restructuring systems and human resources development infrastructure to produce knowledge workers for the new information era. (Contains 121 references.) (JB)