The last two decades have witnessed a sudden upsurge of new institutions of higher learning in countries of Southeast Asia, and most of these institutions are located in nonmetropolitan areas. What is the nature and function of these metropolitan or regional universities? How do they relate to the metropolitan universities? What role can they play in promoting the regional or subnational development process? How should they interact with the provincial government and the local community in playing this role? How do they relate to their immediate environment? Each of these questions is answered in the various papers presented at the workshop sponsored by the Regional Institute of Higher Education and Development. (MJM)