"The impact to date of educational research on tertiary education in Australia has been rather limited. It would therefore be rash to predict that the position will change dramatically in • the next decade. However it would not only be pessimistic but also neglecting trends to believe that no effect will occur at all."

This statement was made by Sid Dunn, Chairman of the Education Research and Development Committee, as the opening to a chapter on educational research for our study on the future of higher education in Australia. His argument is that the relative inefficiency of implementing educational research is no basis for ignoring it. Indeed, I believe it provides a stronger reason for increasing the emphasis on research, though it may take some time for the results of that research to take effect. With this in mind I would like to discuss some of the future needs for research in higher education arising from the issues already mentioned by Karmel last night and by West, Hore and Hall this morning.