This annual report on minority, female, and disabled groups in Illinois higher education details efforts to improve student and staff representation, and surveys trends in enrollment, degree completion, and staff employment. The report shows increases in black and Hispanic graduate/professional enrollment, transfers from community colleges to four-year institutions, and total degrees awarded. It also notes an increase in the proportion of female students earning doctoral degrees but declines in black undergraduate enrollment and especially in black male enrollment, in black master's degree recipients, and Hispanic bachelor's degree recipients in certain fields of study. Text, tables, and figures review: (1) efforts to facilitate minority student transfers, serve students with learning disabilities, and improve retention rates of freshmen students; (2) data on enrollment, student persistence and degree completion, and minority and female employment; (3) provisions of the Higher Education Cooperation Act and specific public college and university programs directed toward minority and female students, students with disabilities, and staff; and (4) studies and program evaluations. Appendixes include a bibliography of 1996 Illinois Board of Higher Education reports on underrepresented groups; 23 data tables; and summaries of 1996 institutional reports. (CH)