This commentary is based on an International Council for Educational Development (ICED) seminar held in conjunction with the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies at Aspen, Colorado, in July 1975. Some of the broader issues raised there are explored: economic dilemmas, interdependency of world economy, forces of continued higher education expansion and flexibility, demographic trends, pressures for equality, and other higher education problems. Other areas covered include the diversification of students and their needs, the professoriate, and administrators; changing aims and management regarding recurrent education, liberal education, career training, higher education planning, the power of administrators, bureaucratic impact, size of institutions, and erosion of "community." A consensus examined is that at least some universities should stand apart from society rather than being a part of it, in the sense of responding to regional, national or even international needs if they were determined from without. (LBH)