A study unit for an Open University course on the structure and administration of higher education in Great Britain is intended to complement a textbook and to provide over 10 hours of study. The instructional objectives for the unit include: (1) an understanding of the recent evolution of the higher education system in the United Kingdom, especially England and Wales; (2) an understanding of the perceived strengths and possible weaknesses of the University Grants Committee mechanism of public funding for universities; (3) knowledge of the arguments advanced on opposing sides about the organization, management, and funding of the public sector of higher education, including teacher education; (4) an understanding of the relationship between external control and financing of institutions and their external governance structure; and (5) an understanding of how policy-making for British higher education has proceeded by discrete steps and without reference to any immutable and universally accepted principles. Appended are author's comments on the suggested activities for the unit, an extract from the 1978 Oakes Report concerning management of public higher education, and a bibliography. (MSE)