Campus 2020: Thinking Ahead asked British Columbians to imagine the future of higher learning and to create a plan that will help us get there. This report is that plan. This report is the first comprehensive look at higher education in British Columbia in 45 years. It charts a course for the future that builds on the strengths of the past. While there have been many positive developments over the last few decades, there were calls for a renewed vision and unifying policy framework. This report makes 52 recommendations to government on how to build on the strengths of British Columbia's existing system of higher education. The report calls for setting clear, concrete and measurable targets that express, in summary, our goals for higher education. These targets must be public, and they must incorporate achievable yet demanding timelines. A few of the targets set out in this report are: (1) By 2010, BC will consistently be one of the three highest spending provinces in terms of provincial support for basic and applied research; (2) By 2015, BC will achieve the highest level of participation in post-secondary education per capita in Canada, confer more post-secondary credentials per capita than any other province and rank top in the country on quality measures focused on student achievement; (3) By 2020, post-secondary participation and attainment rates will be equalized across the province's regions and income quartiles; and (4) By 2020, the rate of Aboriginal post-secondary participation and attainment will equal general population rates, and we will have reduced by 50 per cent the proportion of BC adults not achieving high school equivalency by age 30. Reaching these targets will require leadership, planning, commitment, focus, resources and innovation. It will require a variety of agencies undertaking a number of defined tasks and activities within a specific timeframe. This report provides a framework for that work--a new "BC Access and Excellence Strategy." Two provincial structures are proposed: a Higher Education Presidents' Council--to facilitate collaborative, coordinated planning among all post-secondary institutions in the province; and a public interest Higher Education Board--to measure the progress of the entire sector in achieving government's goals for post-secondary education from an integrated, life-long learning perspective. In addressing issues of funding for the post-secondary system itself, and for the students in it, this report recommends a modified cap on tuition fee increases, the removal of fees for Adult Basic Education and a comprehensive review of our complex student financial assistance program. It also recommends the provincial government commit the funds necessary to attain the ambitious targets contained within a new, long-term and comprehensive plan to provide access and pursue excellence within BC's higher education system. (Contains a list of 9 sources.)