It is not unusual for universities periodically to undertake a strategic planning process with the goal of improving their effectiveness. Typically, the process takes one of two forms: It can redirect or recast the institution in fundamental ways, or it can focus on the things that it is doing especially well and organize the future around them.…

Tribute is offered to 100 emerging leaders in higher education. Their diversity is noted in commentary on the survey by which they were identified, and brief biographies of each are given. (LBH)

From an institutional perspective, the competition for the minds and the dollars of the public is best met with sharply focused missions. Major problems are identified: program quality, program costs, competitiveness, and changing markets of consumers seeking postsecondary educational services. (MLW)

A 1984 essay, originally published at the outset of a recession, finds that, although significant problems can be predicted for higher education, there is also cause for celebration: institutions of higher education serve the nation well, and public attitudes are positive. Based on this stability, a guarded optimism about higher education's future…

Speculation about the future is not knowledge, as it is often treated, and efforts to predict the future obscure the need to tend to the present. (MSE)

Discusses new circumstances that are propelling a re-envisioning, re- examining, and re-assessing of the Ph.D. so that it retains its unique ability to contribute robustly to a changing society's extensive requirements for knowledge workers who possess deep analytical skills and capabilities. (EV)

A profile of higher education from the vantage point of students is presented in charts by the Carnegie Foundatioin for Advancement of Teaching. By looking at demographic patterns and at high school students, one can get an idea of what the nation's colleges will look like in the future. (MLW)

It is time for national scrutiny of the quality of higher education. Some indictments of higher education include: unqualified students; diluted standards, coddled faculty, little scholarly research, no quality control, inadequate measures of performance, declining academic freedom, and self-righteousness. (MLW)

The future of private Black colleges depends on public and private financial support to enable them to carry out their missions and establish programs of quality. The question should not be whether private Black colleges are needed, but whether the college is of such quality that it deserves support. (MLW)

Discusses the need to save the soul of higher education in the context of technology advances, globalization of markets, and new providers. Identifies traditional core attributes of higher education including: socializing students to the community, the life of the mind, and to a profession; the encouragement of social mobility; and providing…

Many changes in college enrollment patterns have occurred since 1982. Three variables that affect enrollment include: differential fertility among population groups, a state's ability to retain students to high school graduation, and the number of a state's high school graduates who leave the state for college. (MLW)

Two articles originally published in the 1970s are reprinted. The first argues that the American writer no longer knows what is expected of him and has difficulty engaging in conversation with the reader. The second examines the work and teaching of Joseph Brodsky, a Russian poet, while in the United States. (MSE)

For more than 55 years Ralph Tyler's energy and intelligence have gone into helping educators do a better job. His accomplishments and outlook for the future are described. (LBH)

The American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) has issued a "social manifesto" on the future of higher education, "To Secure the Blessings of Liberty." It seeks to chronicle the fundamental changes in America's domestic environment and the resulting challenges to higher education. (MLW)

Demographic realities demand that institutions of higher education understand that their long-term future is linked to their abilities to attract, recruit, and retain minority students. Five regions most affected by Hispanic growth are the southwest, the northeast, south Florida, Chicago, and the Pacific northwest. (MLW)