This article first draws together a range of published statistics to analyse trends in participation in higher education in the UK over recent years. That provides evidence of the shifting profile in the student population and sets a context for examining emerging evidence of the impact of recent government policy decisions on control of student numbers and on financial support. Comparisons are drawn between England and other nation regions of the UK. Data on subgroups are presented to develop an agenda on equity for institutional managers. Finally, the article examines institutional responses to the new context of marketisation and increased government micro-management interventions and of a significantly reduced provision. It uses research funded by the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education to identify a shift to a corporate-enterprise culture as relations with applicants and entrants are increasingly driven from central structures in HEIs. (Contains 1 note.)