Higher education faces a new century with many contradictions still unresolved. Elitist models of universities coexist with mass higher education in an increasingly divided society. Academic autonomy has been eroded and the creative independence of institutions is at a premium. New technology challenges profoundly the organization of academic life. Educational values struggle with those of training.

The writers in this book envisage a system of higher education fit for the new millennium. They challenge the fatalism of much current thinking about mass higher education and identify the ways universities must take the initiative in defining radically different models of their futures. They look to universities which are accessible, accountable and growing steadily with adequate resources. They envisage institutions which promote democratic values, offer high quality lifelong learning opportunities and are based on a new contract with, and vision for, the society they serve.

Repositioning Higher Education develops a powerful critique of current orthodoxies in higher education and will provoke further open debate about the role of higher education in modern society.