Abstract
The study aims at uncovering basic structural characteristics of contem porary higher education seen in its relation to society. Two types of higher education, the collection type or firmly structured system and the mteg rated type or loosely structured system, are contrasted theoretically and empirically. The empirical study, which was carried out in two radically different Danish university disciplines (Medicine and Danish), has a sup portive function in relation to the chief aim of the work, which is theory development. The analysis distinguishes between four levels: society, institution, teaching situation and the level of the individual. Marked differences between the two systems are found on every level, among which structural boundanes for teaching methods are accounted for, as well as differences m the personalities of the two groups of students. The relations between the four levels are traced. The manifest and the latent structural characteristics of the systems are described.