To improve student satisfaction and success, higher education institutions (HEIs) need to find their niche, establish their own identity and get on with doing what they do best. Strategic Enrolment Management (SEM) is a comprehensive process that requires understanding markets, supply and demand, programme development, and student recruitment and retention. SEM involves the entire institution, relies heavily on institutional research and ultimately establishes strategic goals that are placed within the framework of the overall institutional planning model. In this process, the HEI also creates a mission that distinguishes it from other institutions. This paper will examine the key components to a SEM model and discuss how this process is interfaced with institutional planning. It will also present a research project to gather data on HEIs throughout Portugal in an effort to show what must be done to create a SEM process in institutions there.