近年來，隨著高等教育的普及化與大眾化的趨勢，世界各國政府為了滿足社會的多元需求與發展，紛紛致力於追求多元而分化的高等教育體系。本文主要目的在檢視當前國內高等教育機構多元分化的相關政策，探討可能面臨的困難與挑戰，並且試圖結合政策的發展方向，以及國內現有的機構類型，研擬出未來高等教育多元分化的「概念藍圖」，藉以導引政策的論辯，以及可能的實務做法。本研究發現，政策面對研究型大學、社區學院的成立有高度共識，除此之外，對其他機構的規劃或定位則仍有疑義。同時，就多元分化而言，不同類型機構間如何區隔與分工，以及該發揮哪些功能，仍是國內高等教育體系需要面對的挑戰。最後，本研究提出「雙軌統整型」與「雙軌分立型」的模式，做為討論與論辯的進一步基礎。

There has been an increasing trend with regard to the pursuit of institutional diversity and differentiation of higher education in European countries. A similar development also can be observed in Taiwan since the 1990s. With the publication of the“General Consultation Report on Education Reform”officially endorsed by the Executive Yuan, higher education institutions in Taiwan are encouraged to diversify and differentiate further in terms of types and functions with an attempt to meet the diverse demands of the non-traditional background students. The purpose of this paper, reflecting the preceding stated development, aims to explore the possible development of higher education in Taiwan with respect to institutional diversity and differentiation. The main attention has been paid to the following issues: to review historical development of higher education, to examine dominant policy documents regarding institutional diversity, and to design feasible “conceptual blueprint” and in turn stimulate debates and analytic discussion about Taiwanese higher education future. To sum up, two models are considered: “integrated binary mode” and “divided binary mode”, which are more likely to facilitate the further development of a diversified and differentiated higher education system in Taiwan.