Quality Assurance

Quality assurance is the systematic review of educational programmes to ensure that acceptable standards of education, scholarship and infrastructure are being maintained.

UNESCO promotes capacity building at the regional and national levels for quality assurance and accreditation mechanisms as part of the Action Plan for the Global Forum on International Quality Assurance, Accreditation and the Recognition of Qualifications .

The Global Forum provides a platform for dialogue between international frameworks dealing with quality assurance, accreditation and the recognition of qualifications.

The UNESCO/OECD Guidelines are an important starting point for quality assurance capacity-building activities.

Related Links

Guidelines for quality provision in cross-border higher education  
UNESCO and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) agreed to proceed with the elaboration of joint Guidelines for quality provision in crossborder higher education, based on United Nations and UNESCO principles and instruments, as an educational response to the growing commercialization of higher education. Available: Fre  / Spa

Global Initiative for Quality Assurance (GIQAC)
The World Bank and UNESCO have established a partnership to launch a Global Initiative for Quality Assurance Capacity (GIQAC) to support higher education in developing countries and in countries in transition. GIQAC will assist emerging quality assurance systems in building capacity by sharing information on good practices world-wide, facilitating communication among the diverse set of agencies and professionals, and supporting the production of analyses and guidelines.