Based on the 1981 seminar of the Leverhulme Programme of Study into the Future of Higher Education, papers are presented that propose an agenda for institutional change in higher education, based on demographic, economic, social, and political forces of the decade. In "The Challenge of Change," Leslie Wagner considers the interaction between higher education and the political system, the relationship between institutions, change within institutions, and mechanisms of change. In "Assessing Institutional Performance and Progress," John Sizer reviews work undertaken during the last decade and current thinking on the assessment of performance of higher education institutions in Britain, Europe, and the United States. Additional papers and authors are as follows: "Autonomous and Service Traditions," (Tyrrell Burgess); "Past Failure and the Imperative for Change," (Gerald Fowler); "Change within a Contracting System," (William Taylor); "The Contribution of the Public Sector," (Brian Cane); "The Politics of Sectoral Change," (Maurice Kogan and Christopher Boys); "The Politics of Institutional Change," (John L. Davies and Anthony W. Morgan); and "A Cross-National View," (Burton R. Clark). Specific areas of concern include: a proposal to ensure that each local authority in Great Britain is responsible for its own higher education; the funding of public sector higher education, the nature of institutional relationships with County Hall and Westminster, the justification for academic tenure, the viability of a 2-year degree, the call for peer review of university courses, implementation of a credit transfer system, institutional planning, the adequacy of training for institutional leadership, and methods for encouraging innovation in view of severe constraints on all resources. (SW)