This collection of 12 essays addresses three themes related to the future of higher education: access, governance, and quality. The contributors represent teaching, research and management, universities, polytechnics, and colleges. The collected essays and their authors are as follows: "Reassessing the Future" (Tom Schuller); "Finished and Unfinished Business" (Gareth Williams); "Widening the Access Argument" (Andrew McPherson); "Access and Institutional Change" (Elizabeth Reid); "Access: An Overview" (Peter Scott); "Governance and Sectoral Differentiation" (William H. Stubbs); "Governance: The Institutional Viewpoint" (Michael Richardson); "Governance: An Overview" (Michael Shattock); "The Future and Further Education" (Colin Flint); "Quality in Higher Education" (Pauline Perry); "Quality and Qualities: An Overview" (Christopher Ball) and "Access, Quality, and Governance: One Institution's Struggle for Progress" (Tessa Blackstone). The appendix provides a list of participants attending a conference on "The Future of Higher Education: A Reassessment" held September 19-21, 1990, at Birkbeck College. (81 references) (GLR)