Foreword Walter Rüegg; Part I. Themes and Patterns: 1. Themes Walter Rüegg; 2. Patterns Guy Neave; Part II. Structures: 3. Relations with authority Walter Rüegg and Jan Sadlack; 4. Management and resources Geoffrey Lockwood; 5. Teachers Thomas Finkenstaedt; Part III. Students: 6. Admission A. H. Halsey; 7. Curriculum, students, education Sheldon Rothblatt; 8. Student movements and political activism Louis Vos; 9. Graduation and careers Ulrich Teichler; Part IV. Learning: 10. Social sciences, history and law Notker Hammerstein and Dirk Heirbaut; 11. The mathematical, exact sciences John Ziman; 12. The biological sciences Herbert Macgregor; 13. Earth sciences Gordon Craig and S. K. Monro; 14. Medicine John Ellis; 15. Technology Christopher Watson; Epilogue: prospects for the universities: a personal view Andris Barblan; Appendix: universities founded in Europe between 1945 and 1995 Walter Rüegg.