Guidelines on “Quality Provision in Cross-Border Higher Education”

The initiative to develop guidelines on “Quality Provision in Cross-Border Higher Education” is a follow-up to a resolution adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO (29 September-17 October 2003), inviting the Director-General to “develop practices and principles to guide cross-border provision of higher education, drawing on the competence of UNESCO and other international agencies, in cooperation with quality assurance agencies and educational providers”.

The initiative to develop guidelines on “Quality Provision in Cross-Border Higher Education” is a follow-up to a resolution adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO (29 September-17 October 2003), inviting the Director-General to “develop practices and principles to guide cross-border provision of higher education, drawing on the competence of UNESCO and other international agencies, in cooperation with quality assurance agencies and educational providers”.

The Guidelines aim to support and encourage international cooperation and enhance the understanding of the importance of quality provision in cross-border higher education.2 The purposes of the Guidelines are to protect students and other stakeholders from low-quality provision and disreputable providers3 as well as to encourage the development of quality cross-border higher education that meets human, social, economic and cultural needs.