The development and influence of new structures in European higher education are reviewed as they relate to the equality of educational opportunity. Part One discusses the evaluation of higher education from 1945 to 1975 in three chapters covering general developments in higher education in the post-war period, the quantitative expansion of higher education 1965-1974, and planning and policies for structural innovation. Part Two contains four chapters devoted to the growth of new structures in higher education: the place of new structures in higher education; problems of equality; the new structures and their conditions of access; and changes in the composition of the student body. Part Three offers summaries and recommendations and the postscript: What can Britain learn from current European developments? It is suggested that problems that appear to be educational, actually reflect values entrenched in the social system; old problems must be posed in new terms to be dealt with adequately. Two notions are offered to aid the system in producing able manpower: first, that of "transformational capacity"--an institution's ability to readjust itself as needs change; and secondly, the concept of "reserved graduate occupations" in the Civil Service as a determinant in education, curriculum, staffing, and student preferences. References and indexes are provided. (LC)