Publications in the fields of educational science, organization theory, and project management were analyzed to identify the possibilities that modularization offers to institutions of higher professional education and to obtain background information for use in developing a method for modularization in higher professional education. It was discovered that, in higher education, modularization is generally regarded as a means of organizing programs more efficiently, maintaining/improving program quality, and bringing programs more into line with demand for additional training. Educational innovation was found to go hand in hand with organizational development. Modularization programs were found to consist of three stages. In the first stage, modularization is primarily a matter of policy in which objectives are of paramount importance. It is in this stage that decisions to divide study loads into standardized units are generally made. The second stage of modularization is aimed at the curriculum and is the stage in which diploma requirements and objectives of modularization are finalized on the basis of information about labor market demands. The third stage of modularization is the logical elaboration of the decisions made in the first two stages and is the time when decisions at the modular level are made. (Contains 30 references.) (MN)