The paper was released by the then Minister for Education, Science and Training as a first step in a consultation process on future approval and accreditation arrangements in the higher education sector. It sets out a range of issues including: the specific combinations of teaching, scholarship and research which should define universities and other types of higher education institutions; whether there should be provision for ‘specialist’ institutions covering a narrow field of study in-depth rather than a wide range of disciplines; the role of private and for-profit institutions in the future and to what extent regulation of them should be different to regulation of public or not-for profit institutions; the scope to create pathways for non self-accrediting institutions to progress to self-accrediting or university status over time if desired; and the potential impacts of changing the current framework. This Issues Paper follows from recommendations of the Review of the National Protocols for Higher Education Approval Processes led by Emeritus Professor Gus Guthrie in 2004.