Our Services
Driving meaningful change through bold thinking and strategic precision
Driving Institutional Transformation
Our consultancy specializes in helping business schools navigate complex challenges and seize opportunities in an evolving higher education landscape. We provide expertise in six broad areas.
Why continue to waste time on strategic planning exercises that don’t deliver? XOLAS ADVISORS provides the solutions and guidance you need to create strategic plans that are actionable, effective, getting staff engaged, and drive real results.
Navigating the many disruptive challenges requires a proactive approach. Agility is no longer an advantage; it’s a necessity. Partner with XOLAS ADVISORS to identify and address organizational pain points through strategic process redesign and repositioning.
Unlock your institution’s full potential with accreditation and rankings. XOLAS ADVISORS delivers comprehensive and cost-effective support for accreditation and rankings projects, ensuring a streamlined path to improving your external recognition.
Underperforming units or activities often necessitate financial reimagining. XOLAS ADVISORS guides clients through the complex process of overhauling challenged areas, helps to optimize cost structures, and enhances revenue prospects.
XOLAS ADVISORS helps clients to assess current academic offerings and to craft and implement strategies for revitalizing existing programs and developing new ones, ensuring sustained relevance, higher competitiveness, and long-term institutional growth.
We design our risk management services to foster strong financial resilience and enhance strategic foresight. It includes the development of comprehensive risk registers that systematically identify, assess, and prioritize an organization’s exposures.
Strategic Planning & Development
Charting Your Institution’s Path to Excellence
In today’s rapidly evolving higher education landscape, strategic clarity is essential for institutional success. Our services help universities and business schools create actionable, measurable plans that align with their mission and position them for sustainable growth.
We don’t just help you build a plan—we stay with you as you implement it. Our collaborative approach ensures that your strategic initiatives are informed by data, aligned with stakeholder expectations, and designed for measurable outcomes.
Our Strategic Development & Planning services include:
Comprehensive Strategic Planning – Facilitated co-creation of actionable strategic plans that inspire your leadership, faculty, and community to work toward a shared vision.
Mission Alignment & Direction Setting – Clarification of institutional purpose and development of key policies that ensure adherence to your core mission.
Stakeholder Engagement – Structured processes for involving leadership, faculty, staff, board members, and community partners in strategic conversations.
KPI Development & Measurement – Creation of clear performance indicators that align from institutional goals down to individual performance metrics.
Growth Roadmapping – Visual strategy maps and implementation timelines that guide your institution through transformation.
What can you expect:
An action-oriented strategic plan,
+ measurable objectives with accountability frameworks,
+ enhanced community buy-in and engagement,
+ a culture of strategic thinking and continuous improvement.
Accreditation & Rankings
Validating Excellence and Enhancing Global Recognition
Accreditation success and improvement in rankings require strategic preparation and systematic approaches. Our services help institutions confidently navigate these complex processes, turning compliance requirements into opportunities for meaningful institutional improvement.
We provide expert guidance throughout the accreditation journey while developing targeted strategies to enhance your position in national and global ranking systems.
We are an ideal partner when seeking strategic advice and whenever encountering problem situations. While we can handle the technical aspects of an accreditation project, this is not our primary focus. We are happy to refer you to one of our strategic partners who can handle these aspects.
Our Accreditation & Ranking Support Services include:
Accreditation Readiness Assessment (Gap Analysis) – Comprehensive evaluation of your institution’s preparedness for accreditation reviews.
Self-Assessment Preparation & Guidance – Expert support in developing compelling self-study reports that showcase institutional strengths.
Rankings Strategy Development – Customized approaches to improve performance in key ranking systems.
Performance Metrics Optimization – Strategic enhancement of metrics that matter most for accreditation and rankings success.
Data Collection & Reporting Improvement – Systems and processes for efficient, accurate data management.
What can you expect:
Strategic alignment between quality initiatives and external validation
+ successful accreditation outcomes
+ enhanced institutional reputation among stakeholders
+ more efficient data collection and reporting processes
Program Portfolio Renewal and Growth
Cultivating Academic Excellence, Relevance, and Growth
We dedicate our Program Portfolio Renewal and Growth services to ensure our clients’ academic degree offerings remain relevant, competitive, and sustainable. We review existing programs to identify opportunities for curriculum modernization, pedagogical innovation, technological enhancement, and alignment with evolving industry demands and student aspirations.
We engage in strategic planning for the launch of new programs as part of a wider portfolio, as well as optimizing the enrollment and pedagogical delivery of current ones, ultimately fostering a dynamic and attractive academic portfolio that drives institutional success and student outcomes.
Our Program Portfolio services include:
Portfolio Assessment – Robust data-driven evaluation of the client’s program portfolio to identify current strengths, weaknesses, synergies, and growth options.
Viability Assessments – ‘Health check’ of intake pipeline to identify improvement opportunities re. the achievement of revenue and quality targets.
Portfolio Renewal – Turning around a declining program, considering currentness of the curriculum, delivery pathways, deployment of eLearning technologies, and quality of support services.
Design of New Programs – Development of new offerings, backed up by market analysis and an evaluation of the competitive landscape.
Governance Improvements – Evaluation of current organizational structure(s) to identify how teams can be better aligned with financial and operational priorities.
What can you expect:
More competitive portfolio of degree offerings
+ robust decision support for program changes and additions
+ realization of portfolio synergies
+ more efficient management of degree programs
Change Management
Building Adaptive, Efficient Institutional Structures
Higher education institutions face unprecedented pressure to become more agile, efficient, and responsive to change. Our services help universities and business schools reimagine their structures and processes to meet current challenges while preparing for future opportunities.
We partner with clients to assess current operations, identify opportunities for improvement, and implement changes that enhance effectiveness while preserving your institutional values and culture.
Our Change Management services include:
Institutional Assessment & Benchmarking – Comprehensive evaluation of organizational structures, processes, and performance.
Change Management & Implementation – Structured approaches to guide institutions through complex change initiatives.
Administrative Efficiency Improvement – Streamlining of administrative structures and processes to reduce costs and enhance service.
Governance Structure Optimization – Review and refinement of decision-making frameworks and leadership roles.
Resource Allocation & Financial Sustainability – Strategies for optimal resource utilization and long-term financial health.
What can you expect:
More efficient administrative structures and processes
+ enhanced institutional agility and adaptability
+ improved resource utilization and cost efficiency
+ stronger governance and decision-making frameworks
Restructuring
Turn-Around for a More Successful Future
Organizations frequently encounter situations where specific units or activities experience significant underperformance, threatening overall financial viability. XOLAS ADVISORS, provides specialized restructuring services and guide clients through critical transformations to restore financial health and strategic competitiveness.
Our mission is to transform underperforming units by applying rigorous, data-driven methodologies to identify root causes, implement effective changes, and ultimately re-establish pathways to sustainable profitability and renewed market leadership.
Our Restructuring services include:
Strategic Diagnostics of Underperformance – In-depth assessments of underperforming business units or activities to identify the root causes of inefficiencies and strategic misalignments.
Operational Transformation – Strategies for process optimization to drive rapid performance improvement.
Financial Turnaround & Value Re-Creation – Rigorous cost rationalization and re-evaluation of revenue models.
Governance & Leadership for Crisis Management – Redesign of governance frameworks and accountability mechanisms within troubled units.
Resource Reallocation & Sustainable Strategic Pivot – Data-driven strategies for the optimal redeployment of financial and human capital away from underperforming areas.
What can you expect:
Performance-enhancing restructuring plans
+ improved resource utilization and sustainable cost efficiency
+ stronger governance and accountable decision-making frameworks
+ a clear pathway to renewed viability and competitiveness
Risk Management
Managing Downsides, Capturing Upsides
Higher education institutions (HEIs) face numerous risks that necessitate ongoing assessment, mitigation, and control. These include unexpected drops in fee income, reputation risks, operational risks related to staff violating behavioral protocols, and vulnerability of critical infrastructure due to cyber threats.
We help clients implement a comprehensive, state-of-the-art risk management framework based on the risk register methodology. We help uncover shortcomings in existing systems and guide clients in transitioning from a top-level to an institution-wide register for risk tracking.
We collaborate with Arlanto, the provider of the EDURISK software. EDURISK utilizes the risk register method, which is cutting-edge in higher education, as well as the corporate and financial sectors. It enables the continuous evaluation and tracking of risks, accounting for their potentially distinct lifecycles.
Our Risk Management services include:
Risk Governance – Establishment of clear delegated responsibilities and oversight mandates with the purpose of developing an institution-wide risk culture.
Risk Assessment – Deployment of advanced methodologies for systematic risk identification and assessment across all relevant exposures.
Compliance – Fulfillment of compliance and reporting requirements, e.g., of the parent institution.
Resilience Enhancement – Strategies for enhancing adaptability and responsiveness to unforeseen uncertainties and disruptive events.
Resource Allocation & Financial Sustainability – Guidance on integrating risk considerations into budgeting and investment decisions.
What can you expect:
Creation of a comprehensive risk register
+ ability to manage and track risk owners and risk managers within the register framework
+ improved capability to identify pain points and problem areas in the organization
+ automated report production to meet compliance requirements