本文旨在探討近年來台灣高等教育正面臨高等教育環境變遷的挑戰及其所採的因應策略。本文首先探討高等教育所面對的挑戰，諸如知識經濟社會的衝擊、資訊科技的突破創新、全球化國際競爭的激烈，以及新公共管理與新自由主義的挑戰；其次試圖尋繹大學的理念及其精神的不變性，並提出新世紀大學的任務；再其次，研擬台灣高等教育的因應策略，進而提升其競爭力；最後前瞻台灣高等教育發展的新動向，朝著民主化、自由化、國際化及社區化邁進，開創台灣高等教育的新境界。

Our universities are now at the critical juncture of facing democratization, knowledge-based economy and also internationalization and globalized competition. For this reason, how to enable continued development in higher education, and to provide a good environment for such development in order to hasten a most important task in future development of higher education. Accordingly, higher education must from now on respond to new situations, focus problems will a sure grasp of our goals and targets, and pursue overall planning the important policies. Looking ahead to future development in our higher education we may meet unprecedented challenges and transformations. As institutions become pluralistic, liberal, democratic, international, we should invoke new modes of thinking, adopt new operational system, establish new culture values, create new campus cultures, and release new university function in order fully to realize our common goals.