This paper examines the changes that are emerging in Mexican higher education, focusing especially on the shifting nature of government-university relationships and some of the consequences for management and governance at the establishment level. It provides a brief outline of trends in the recent past, discusses the changes that have developed in government policy toward higher education in the 1990s, and explores how the universities are responding. The most important policies are listed and discussed in reference to the following basic issues pertaining to regulatory relationships: (1) diversification/homogenization of higher education institutions; (2) academic roles and values- teaching and research; (3) institutional autonomy; (4) selection and assessment of students; (5) institutional governance; (6) funding; and (7) evaluation. The report also lists the changes in the dominant relationships and values among basic actors in higher education from the 1970s into the 1990s, including how different types of institutional leadership structures and strengths respond to government policy. (Contains 21 references.) (GLR)