AbstractHigher education in Australia is seen as having reached the conclusion of one phase of development characterized by a high degree of central planning and to be engineering a new phase in which it is argued that a radically different orientation is required. Recovery of at least shared responsibility by the states and the development of private initiatives should help to promote more creative management through diversification of funding sources and lines of accountability. Pressures for change follow demographic and social changes in the Australian population which are likely to favors increased participation in higher education for both personal and national economic purposes.