The problems created by declining enrollments and fiscal stringencies have brought about a "new reality" for postsecondary institutions in Ontario and other Canadian provinces. The lean future that institutions face requires clear articulation and communication of institutional goals, retraining and reallocation of redundant academic staff, cost-effective instructional methods, new formulae for financing higher education, and inter-institutional cooperation. On a system-wide basis, an agency is needed that has enough concern to make difficult decisions, and enough authority to implement them. On a more localized level, entrenched academic traditions, excessive departmental autonomy, and outdated organizational structures represent significant obstacles to the problem-solving capabilities of the institutions. A cohesive plan for Educational Development, which includes organizational, staff, and instructional development, can provide an effective program for individual and institutional renewal. The underlying concept of Educational Development is cooperative, fluid, internally consistent activity at all levels of the institution. Programs dealing with professional needs, programs related to instructional concerns, and activities concerning the myriad of organizational problems must be interrelated and incorporate "partnership problem-solving" to adequately confront and resolve the problems of the new reality. (DR)