This document contains three papers from a symposium on characteristics orientation, needs, and expectations. "Characteristics Orientation of Emerging Professions: Implications for Research, Policy, and Practice of Continuing Professional Education" (William H. Young, Margot B. Weinstein) reports on a qualitative study that examined emerging professions in U.S. society through the characteristics orientation presented by Gilley and Eggland and related the implications to continuing professional education. Special attention was paid to the fields of information technology, real estate, and human resource development. "Managers' Needs and Expectations of Management Education" (Carole Elliot) presents the findings of a study that examined the relationship between six managers who were enrolled part-time in a masters of business administration program and their teachers. The study findings cast doubt on the effectiveness of large-scale programs of management development for individual managers that occur away from the workplace and the validity of more quantitative approaches to needs analysis that generalize management development needs. "Predicting Future Skill Needs in the Clothing Sector (Ian Taplin, Jonathan Winterton, Ruth Winterton) discusses a project during which future skill needs in the British clothing sector were identified as part of efforts to implement the British government's policy of averting skill shortages and remedying skill gaps. All three papers include substantial bibliographies. (MN)