In the increasing global competition for the best students, the quality and attractiveness of an institution does no longer depend only on its academic, teaching and research standards: services to students have come to play an important role in the quality assessment – and thus competitiveness – of institutions. But what services should be available? How to respond to the needs and expectations of international students in particular? Who should provide support for them and how should it be organised? This study presents a number of models of good practice in service provision and university preparation of international students in a selection of countries. These examples form the basis for categorising and analysing a variety of service and preparatory programme “models”, with the aim of informing discussions in different national and institutional contexts when deliberating on the development of international student support.