What academe needs in the 1990s is a new consciousness that ceases to view intellectual neighborhoods as geographic, cares about students at institutions other than one's own, entertains new responses to social and economic complexities, and cultivates professional manners that encourage civility. (MSE)

Colleges have more reason than ever to prepare American leadership to function competitively and knowledgeably in the global environment, but compared with other advanced industrial nations, we have been slow to recognize and respond to growing international interdependence. A more international dimension to education and increased opportunities…

Good planning is good management. Three separate but interrelated dimensions of planning are discussed: anticipating the future; establishing broad system-wide and/or institutional missions and goals; and establishing specific objectives, or actions, to be achieved by specific individuals and units of the institution. (MLW)

Five obstacles to superior investment results for small college endowments are: using local financial institutions that consistently underperform; "looking ahead in the rear-view mirror;" overemphasizing endowment income; playing monopoly with funds; and relying on inadequate information about investment results. Guidelines are offered. (MSE)

Technological advances have potential for meeting the challenges faced by higher education today. However, institutions of higher education should continue to take a disciplined approach to technology to force suppliers to produce products specifically serving its needs and to raise fundamental questions about the impact of technology on teaching,…

The promise of wide commercial applicability of, and large profits from, important technologies has attracted industrial interest in and support for research on an unprecedented scale. With the number of National Institutes of Health awards for research declining, new sources of financial support must be found. (MLW)

No sector of higher education will be immune from serious economic pressures in the future, and the tension between humane policies and hard-nosed financial decisions will increase. General economic trends, factors specifically affecting higher education, prospects for various sectors of higher education, and planning for the 1980s are discussed.…

Calls for educational reforms are an important part of the new political agenda in eastern and central Europe, with reforms concerning higher education particularly profound. One of the greatest departures from tradition is the deideologization of social science and research, and a search for a postsocialist model of higher education. (MSE)

The metropolitan consortium can be an invaluable vehicle for facilitation, building liaisons among higher education institutions and between them collectively and the community at large. Cooperation makes the members stronger, better-managed, and more visible institutions, and they achieve collective clout with the public, the media, and others.…

Financial exigencies need not traumatize colleges and universities if administrators reassess missions and programs and evaluate all alternatives before beginning long-range planning. Higher education will have to adapt to a changing population, society, and needed skills. (MLW)

The qualitites that department heads will need most in the next few decades are identified and the changes in the nature of the job are outlined. The chairperson as entrepreneur, creative custodian of standards, and politician, and the satisfactions of the position are discussed. (MLW)

Current and future socioeconomic trends make it vital for colleges and universities to take a more active role in educating and reeducating U.S. workers. The problem of unemployment among workers lacking certain skills and among new entrants is discussed. (MLW)

A primary challenge for academic administrators is to survive the 1980s with a strong, diverse system of higher education that has a healthy and mutually rewarding partnership with the federal government. Institutions must have the courage and integrity to decide when to accept and when to refuse federal aid and regulation. (MSE)

Decreasing income, increasing costs and growing numbers of students all challenge American higher education. But a more fundamental challenge to higher education institutions is the economically and educationally unbalanced world of the future. (Editor/PG)

Internal and external changes that are likely to occur in higher education in the future are explored, including changes in financing, enrollment, faculties, governance, public scrutiny, and curriculum. Actions and attitudes that will strengthen higher education are pointed out. (Author/LBH)