The future of higher education has three dimensions: (1) changes in demographic patterns, migration, and changing high school curricula; (2) increases in industry-sponsored education, "colleges without campuses," and military instruction programs; and (3) possible responses, including more specific missions, improved counseling, and more…

The adult learner is the new majority in higher education, yet teaching him is still a cottage industry. Little student aid is available, innovative approaches are challenged by states, and federal policy is laggard. A list of priorities that need attention is offered. (Author/LBH)

Student-customers' demands and taxpayer-patrons' directives press for postsecondary education for all. Traditional, "new," and adult students all want a curriculum relevant to their own needs, in a setting of physical flexibility that guarantees access, and it is up to trustees to respond. (Editor/LBH)

A scenario is presented that forecasts higher education as the United States' most important export in the future. Past changes in the American economy, the expansion of higher education since World War II, foreign student demand for American education, and American disadvantages in other production areas set the stage for this transformation.…

Marketing of higher education does not have to include gimmicks, and promotion is only one segment of such a program. Marketing means understanding the institution's strengths and weaknesses, determining the kinds of students it can best serve, and deciding where these students can be found. (Author/JMD)

Many of today's students are non-credit and are not counted by the government. There is a need to define the objectives of community college education to stress the new nontraditional, non-credit, community education function. (LBH)

Instead of a campus, the Community College of Vermont has four regional field sites. At regular intervals, the community is asked what it wants and needs to learn. Teachers are found, curricula developed, and instruction begun. At the end of a course students and teachers write narrative evaluations of learning outcomes. (Author/LBH)

Problems for boards, presidents and the professoriate are cited and some strategies for dealing with them are suggested. Some pressures are identified, including adaptation of institutional structures and curricula to needs of the individual and society; and the admission, retention, and graduation of women, minority, low-income and disadvantaged…

Economic dependence on federal support has increased while the debate over the nature and scope of government influence on higher education continues. Examples of this influence in hiring and admissions, academic policy-making, research regulation, and support of private institutions are discussed. (Author/MSE)