For the purposes of this paper, higher education is defined as a sub-sector of tertiary education whose institutions carry out the functions normally associated with the traditional university.

The issues discussed are contemporary, but not new. Nonetheless they are issues that continue to feature prominently on the higher education agenda. In this paper they are treated in pairs that directly or indirectly impact on each other, and include access and quality; relevance and accountability and co-operation and competition.

Increased access invites the comment made famous during the expansion of higher education in the U.K. following the Robbins Report, “More Means Worse.” But this is not inevitable. More however, does mean different and unless strategies are adopted to respond to the more heterogeneous population of students which is bound to occur with increased access, decline in quality may be expected.

If accountability is viewed from the perspective of value for money, then the link between it and relevance is evident. How one defines relevance then becomes crucial. And too often relevance is interpreted both narrowly and in the short term. This represents a real threat to the crucial role of higher education in promoting the concept lifelong learning and in preparing society for the future.

Co-operation in higher education is strongly advocated in the context of Jamaica.

Four categories of co-operation are examined:

• Co-operation between institutions of higher education themselves
• Co-operation between higher education and other tertiary institutions
• Co-operation between higher education and the productive sector; private and public
• Co-operation between higher education and the school system.