Universities worldwide are increasingly being confronted with ranking and classification initiatives both at the national and international level. Recent research on higher education (HE) policies further indicates that rankings and classifications have a growing impact on decision making and actions in HE at various levels. Moreover, they affect the whole HE community as they tend to result in all higher education institutions (HEIs) being judged according to criteria that are appropriate for the top research universities only. This can have perverse consequences where such criteria are applied or interpreted inappropriately by HEIs and their stakeholders. However it is also evident that rankings have the potential to be a driver of quality improvements in universities. The RISP project aims to build understanding on how rankings and similar transparency tools can and do influence the development strategies of HEIs, and to make recommendations on how rankings could better be used for strategic decision-making while also identifying potential pitfalls that the HEIs should avoid. The objectives of the project are:- to gain a deep understanding of the impact and influence of rankings on European HE and institutional strategic decision-making- to identify how the HEIs can use rankings as a strategic tool to promote institutional development - to provide input to the HE community on the potential effects of rankings on HEIs- to enhance European cooperation and sharing of good practices in the field, thus raising the quality of the European HE and its global competitiveness.The project’s main output will be a report on the impact and influence of rankings and similar transparency tools on European HE, and recommendations on how to use them to promote the strategic decision-making capacity of the universities. Moreover, through the project activities the partners will promote discussion around the topic and raise awareness of the potential that lies in these tools.