With increasing internationalisation of higher education in Europe there is a growing demand of higher education institutions or representative organisations to gain a comparative insight into relevant developments of other systems and institutions. As the recent Bologna reform process and other sectoral developments show, national developments are increasingly influenced by trans-national trends, debates and pressures. Reichert Consulting fills a frequently observed gap in higher education expertise, namely the need to address central questions of university development in a wider international context of political and institutional developments and innovations.

Reichert Consulting addresses this need by combining a wide international comparative perspective with an institutional development focus. With extensive and in-depth experience in international Higher Education developments and institutional change processes inside universities all over Europe and the USA, Reichert Consulting offers

1. comparative studies on international Higher Education developments,

- for national or international HE organisations (rectors conferences, ministries, public funding agencies and private foundations), interested in placing national issues in the wider context of an increasingly open European and global market

- for higher education institutions intrested in the possible impact of international developments, competition and cooperation on institutional opportunities for quality enhancement and international positioning.

2. coaching support for strategy and quality development processes of national higher education systems or individual higher education institutions, on the basis of institutional or system analyses and comparison with relevant international developments.

Strategic development has only recently gained momentum at European universities. Those higher education institutions which try to improve their position in their relevant markets -- global, European, national or regional -- are developing processes and instruments of strategic development in order to identify and exploit the most promising opportunities. As universities are unique institutions in terms of value systems and communication cultures, which are vital to their institutional sustainability and success, their strategic development also needs different decision-making and communication processes from other types of institutions. With little empirical evidence pointing to the success of the relevant tools, this emerging practice can benefit most from an in-depth exchange of experience between different institutions of similar profile.

Reichert Consulting supports and coaches strategic development processes at higher education institutions by helping to identify key questions, providing analyses or institutional opportunities in light of international developments, synthesising relevant material, data and existing achievements and best practice, moderating consultation and decision-making processes - with due consideration of institutional cultures of communication, competitive position and in view of sustainable decisions.