There appears to be a widely held view that the current "steady state" in tertiary education is a function of the government's strategy of reducing public expenditure as part of its attack on inflation. Implied in this view is the expectation that when the economy returns to a healthy state, the steady state will be over. Professor Karmel helped to dispel this view in his talk last night. One reason to expect a continuation of the steady state is that there appears to be little chance of any growth in demand for tertiary education.