Major developments in finance and enrollments at Ontario universities during 1978-1979 to 1981-1982 are reviewed, and attention is directed to academic planning, cooperative activities sponsored by the Council of Ontario Universities (COU), and the establishment in 1980 of a special governmental committee to examine the future of the universities in the 1980s. Since 1978-1979, funding for the Ontario University system fell significantly short of what the Ontario Council on University Affairs (OCUA) recommended. The Ontario government has been unwilling to increase the level of funding to universities or to scale down the system. During the period under review, several system-level initiatives in the area of academic planning occurred. Because of the growing financial constraints, greater emphasis in academic planning was placed by OCUA on system coordination, which involved both the graduate and undergraduate areas. Two valuable cooperative activities conducted by COU on behalf of the universities of Ontario are the Ontario Universities' Application Centre and the Interuniversity Transit System. Attention is directed to significant modifications in library coordination and instructional development. In addition, a brief account is presented of two new cooperative initiatives begun by COU: communications and health sciences. The roles of the COU and OCUA and of various special committees are reviewed, along with summaries of reports submitted by these agencies to the government. Appended materials include a list of members of the COU, 1982; the constitution of the COU; information on committees, boards, and affiliates of the COU, 1982; financial statements of COU; and a list of publications of COU and its affiliates. (SW)