This collection of conference papers includes contributions from the United Kingdom and the United States on the research function of higher education. Part 1 considers the national systems, focusing on three subthemes: past and present trends, issues in funding research, and connections with industry. Papers include: "The Dynamics of University Research in the United States: 1945-90" (Roger L. Geiger); "Research and Higher Education: The UK Scene" (Thomas G. Whiston); "Strengthening the US University Research System" (Bruce L. R. Smith); "Issues in Funding Research" (Harry Atkinson); "The Impacts of State Technology Programmes on American Research Universities" (Irwin Feller); and "The Industrial-Academic Research Agenda" (Michael Gibbons). Part 2 considers the institutional dimension and includes "Research Productivity and the Environmental Context" (Mary Frank Fox); "Constraints on the Individual Researcher" (Maurice Kogan and Mary Henkel); "Toward a Broader Conception of Scholarship: The American Context" (R. Eugene Rice); "Teaching and Research" (Christopher Ball); and "Graduate Education and Research Training" (Burton R. Clark). Part 3 outlines prospects for academic research in three papers: "Issues in American Science Policy" (Robert M. Rosenzweig); "Issues in British Higher Education Policy" (Thomas G. Whiston); and "Uncertainties in Britain's Transition from Elite to Mass Higher Education" (Martin Trow). (Each paper contains references.) (JDD)