Recent applications of the strategic planning approach in colleges and universities and techniques necessary for its application are reviewed. In addition, the intellectual roots of strategic planning are traced, and strategic planning is defined and contrasted with long-range planning. It is suggested that strategic planning addresses the total institution and attempts to address the total environment. Five areas of the strategic planning process are identified: establishing the mission, role, and scope of the institution; analyzing data on the internal operations; analyzing data on the external environment; matching institutional mission and strengths in order to capitalize on opportunities for alternative formulations of policy; and choosing the strategies that are consistent with the institutions' values, are economically justifiable, are politically attainable, and are consistent with serving social needs. Among the most substantial modern roots of the concept of strategic planning, in chronological order of development, are the following: geopolitical theory; field theory; general system theory; transdisciplinary, management school policy studies; the concepts and technique of marketing; and the concepts of organizational effectiveness. Approaches to scanning environmental information include: tracking new ideas that appear in the higher education literature; using a cross-impact paradigm that integrates national trends, local trends, values, and institutional sectors; developing a probability-diffusion matrix for events and trends; force-field analysis; and using value profiles. A bibliography is appended. (SW)