The report resulting from a federally mandated year-long study of the status of foreign language and area studies in United States higher education concentrates on the present capacities of the nation's universities for advanced training and research in those fields. A preamble outlines the history of language and area studies in this country, noting the role of military and defense education. A chapter on language competency examines teaching methods, instructional and evaluative issues, and funding in the broad field of foreign language instruction. A chapter on area competency examines defense education efforts and the demand and supply of trained individuals. An overview of related research looks at its findings, characteristics, funding, policy formation, and other issues. A discussion of campus-based and national organizations outlines their functions, support, and competition for funding. A chapter concerning library and information resources discusses resource sharing, administrative and financial issues in maintaining and building library collections and resource centers, and special issues such as computer applications, overseas resources, materials preservation, and resource monitoring. A final chapter summarizes the problems and recommendations for each of these areas and makes general statements concerning funding and monitoring. Supplemental information derived from the national survey is appended, including methodology, language and area programs, statistics on published faculty research by area of the world and field of discipline, Fulbright grants (1971-1984), and summaries of study group needs by world area. (MSE)