The CHE Consultative Conference 2003 marks the first five years of the CHE’s work. It takes place at a juncture of accelerated, if contested, policy implementation, which in itself marks a new stage in the policy-making process for higher education. The conference thus serves as an opportunity for the CHE and higher education stakeholders to reflect upon and to debate:™

• Higher education policy and its achievements at a systemic and institutional level in the period 1997-2003;
• ™The role of different actors and circumstances, as well as active and passive choices that have shaped the current state of the higher education system;
• ™The extent of what has been achieved in relation to what was intended;
• ™The achievability and value of policy goals;
• ™The roles of individual organisations into the future, with a focus on their vision, their concerns, and how they envisage their interaction and engagement in the emerging higher education scenario.