The purpose of the collection of papers is two-fold: to promote public understanding about adult education in the context of lifelong learning; and to consider what new possible roles this might entail for the university. Papers include: Meeting Contemporary Needs: The Private Sector (J. Williamson-Persh); Meeting Contemporary Needs: The Community College (D. R. Glendenning); Meeting Contemporary Needs: The Institute of Education and the University (W. Hamilton); The New Society: The Family as an Endangered Species (C. R. McQuaid); The New Society: Growing Older (G. Gingras); The New Society: A World View of Adult Education (H. Macquarrie); and Conclusions and Recommendations (E. L. Edmonds). Appendices discuss Adult Awareness in Teaching Adults to Learn (H. Taschow) and The Cooperative Work-Study Program at the University of Regina (W. Holbrow). It is concluded that the university of the future has to be more demonstrably rooted in its community, more utilitarian, more socially conscious, more innovative with flexible programs of study, while at the same time not forgetting to preserve all the vitality of the liberal studies tradition. Notes about the contributors and a short bibliography are provided. (LC)