Lessons from history lead to questions for the future of higher education: is innovation being embraced quickly enough, have universities reached a scale necessary to the task, can technology help, can higher education institutions bring more hands to the wheel, and are they managing and leading in appropriate ways? Trends in higher education play themselves out against trends in the world at large, and history shows that universities have made some serious adaptations over time. Indeed, the "massification" of the higher education sector across the world has been a response to social forces, not the least of which have been the improvement in human rights (and the right to education), the rise of the knowledge society, and the consequent need for more higher-level skills, the explosion in populations, and indeed, the phenomenon of globalization itself. The author subtitled this article "A Cautionary Tale" because she believes that universities are not paying sufficient attention to the massive trends and changes in their environment. She describes the changes and trends in higher education that could have profound consequences for the role and function, and indeed the business model, of all universities, wherever they may be--consequences that will evidence themselves in some places more quickly than in others, for obvious reasons. The author believes that embracing these unprecedented educational trends and changes, along with the opportunities they offer, is vital to addressing the complex issues that face educators individually and collectively in the 21st century. (Contains 10 notes.)