The report presents the definition of professional higher education and the accompanying framework of characteristics which are outcomes of the collaborative authoring of the HAPHE team (2012-2014). Furthermore, this document has been enriched by examples of professional higher education, and we are thankful to the above contributors for sharing their practices with us and our readers.  This publication was made possible by replies to our survey from more than 600 European stakeholders and by discussion among 200 participants in 12 national and European validation seminars.