A study of the Gippsland Institute of Advanced Education. In the 60s the Martin Committee recommended the diversification of higher education in Australia through the development of colleges offering sub-degree courses with a strong vocational and technological emphasis. This led to the creation of colleges of advanced education. (CAEs). Using methods drawn from the sociology and anthropology of complex organisations, this study examines the relationship between the internal structure of the Gippsland Institute of Advanced Education and the structure of the environment in which it is located. It attempts to balance ethnographic detail with general social theory in the context of an analysis of the development of the Institute. The findings of the study extend to the character, function and role dilemmas of CAEs in general and of regional colleges in particular and show that the value of their contributio is clear.