This report identifies issues in Maryland postsecondary education concerned with quality, effectiveness, access, diversity, and efficiency. It first provides a brief overview of the system, including information on headcount, the number and types of institutions, demographic trends, the labor market, and financing. It then addresses the following areas: (1) quality--as it relates to undergraduate education, teacher education reform, academic preparation and remediation, faculty, information resources, and private career schools; (2) effectiveness--measured by retention and graduation rates, time to degree, success of graduates, rewards for institutional success, adaptability to change, economic impact of sponsored research, and private career schools; (3) access--measured across regions, by affordability, by financial aid, and by articulation and transfer; (4) diversity--under the current system; under three newly proposed principles of comprehensiveness, student-centeredness, and accountability; and gender equity; and (5) efficiency--as it relates to state finances, changing educational needs, redesigning institutions, and using partnerships. (CH)