Well, I'm sorry that my "younger" students couldn't explain it well. That does sometimes happen. People study for tests then forget what they studied after the test.
In anycase, I will try to answer your questions as best as I feel appropriate in a public forum. If you wish more detail, contact me privately.
I was wondering, if anyone could explain to me what exactly our Highers are and what they are for.
Well, that gets a little complicated, but as a general rule, they are seperate entities that are assigned to you as a general guide and/or protector. To help not confuse the person they are guarding, they can normally appear as the person seeing them, however it isn't always done that way. Depends on the higher and how they like to handle things. Because of the former description of them appearing has given them the name "higher self".
Highers are astral beings with wills and minds of their own. They aren't quite "yours" per se. They watch over you to a point. Doesn't mean a spirit guide is your higher, but doesn't mean they aren't either depending on the individual and cercomstance. There is a lot of strange stuff going on in the astral, and as a general rule, the higher's job is to make you oblivious to it.

How they come to be assigned is rather complicated, and isn't something I wish to discuss in public forums, nor do I think you would understand even if it was emailed because of lack of reference point. As far as what can they do, well, that depends on the individual higher, but they all can do quite a bit astrally and magically, and most can affect events down here to a point, but most don't bother because it isn't needed.
There are many means of contacting your higher, the main one we teach is what we call "astral communications". Basically the ability to speak with astral entities, which include your higher in this case.
Your inner and higher are not related. Your inner is "you", and you higher is NOT you. There are some exceptions where that can be more of a relationship that just strangers, but that gets complicated too to explain here, and it's so rare as not to be pertenant.
Hmm...what else to add...
Highers can be good sources of information, but as with any entity, you might have to be careful of their agenda for honest answers. Like any new person you meet, you need to "feel them out". They know what's going on, and really aren't required to tell you about it, and they know it. Some are VERY proactive in helping, others dont' give a shit. I don't want to bias your contact with them, so I won't go any further. If you are going to talk with them, go with an open mind rather than expectations.
Hope that helped some. Sorry I avoided some of your questions, but don't think it could have been helped.
If I missed something, please feel free to follow up.
Arthur