The CHE defines itself as a reform think tank for higher education. We work on new ideas and concepts, we are project partner for higher education institutions and ministries, and we offer further training programmes as well as the most sophisticated university ranking in Germany. In the meantime, this ranking has been extended to include Austrian and Swiss higher education institutions. The idea of university unbound, laid down in a recent publication, serves as model. The university unbound is autonomous, academic, profiled and competitive. It works economically, is internationally oriented and integrates e-learning and a modern IT-infrastructure into its institutional development.