Focusing on computers and television and their applications both on campus and for distance education, this Unesco report on the role of instructional media in the system of higher education in the USSR argues that the new technologies are capable of performing three main instructional functions within the context of any teaching-learning process: (1) they create favorable conditions for teaching and learning; (2) they provide the teacher with an efficient tool with which to manage the learning process; and (3) they serve as a vehicle to implement the curriculum content. This discussion of both the use of media and the instructional theory involved in its use covers training for specialists in computer technology; ways in which computers are used in institutions of higher education in the USSR, including the use of monitoring feedback equipment in lecture halls and a computer-managed television-based instruction system (ATOC); ways in which visual presentation of abstractions can be used to enhance instruction in mathematics and science; advantages of satellite television for distance education, including the provision of cues that emphasize different elements of the instructional message, and the use of visual information to reflect reality as fully and as objectively as possible; and the role of aesthetic education of students in the formation of their professional skills. It is concluded that the contemporary teaching-learning process at any level of education is liable to lack efficiency unless it rests on the scientifically sound use of new technologies. (BBM)