This collection of essays aims to contribute to the understanding of the present predicament and future potential of higher education in the United Kingdom. It considers the new dimensions being introduced into higher education which are likely to have marked effects in the 1990s. It explores the tensions between the past and future, tradition and innovation, the elite and popular model, the old order and new purposes. Individual essay titles and their authors are as follows: "The Power of Ideas" (Peter Scott); "The University as a Civilizing Force" (Anthony O'Hear); "Access and Standards: An Unresolved (and Unresolvable?) Debate" (Leslie Wagner); "The Pattern, Range, and Purpose of Higher Education: A Moral Perspective" (Kenneth Wilson); "Academics and Society: Freedom's Seamless Robe" (Christopher Price); "A Consensus Framework for Higher Education" (Peter Slee); "Industry and Higher Education: A Strategy for Partnership" (Geoffrey Harding, Brian Kington); "Students: Partners, Clients or Consumers?" (Victoria Phillips); "Using the Media: Structures, Delivery, and Control" (Naomi E. Sargant); "1992: Higher Education and the Challenge of the Single European Market" (Diana Green); "Prospects for Higher Education Finance" (Gareth Williams). A conclusion by Heather Eggins is also offered, and an index is provided. (GLR)