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 Global Initiative for Quality Assurance Capacity (GIQAC) and its activities dealing with the quality assurance of distance education and open educational resources (OERs).

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