The International Association for Quality Assurance in Pre-Tertiary & Higher Education (QAHE) is pleased to announce the publication of a doctoral dissertation entitled Globally Accepted Approaches to Quality Assurance in Education: A Comparative Analysis of Frameworks, Principles, and Institutional Practice.The dissertation was prepared by Natasha Perkins of the QAHE Accreditation Committee. It provides a comparative analysis of major quality assurance frameworks that have achieved broad international acceptance, including the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG), the INQAAHE International Standards and Guidelines, the United States accreditation model associated with CHEA, regional frameworks in the Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America, and management-system standards such as ISO 21001. The work examines shared principles of transparency, peer review, learning outcomes, cyclical review, and continuous improvement, alongside regional variation in governance and practice. It also addresses multi-framework alignment, the accountability–improvement debate, theoretical foundations, and the implications of artificial intelligence for existing quality assurance standards, drawing on recent scholarship published between 2024 and 2026.
The full dissertation is available for download here:
Download the Dissertation
QAHE encourages faculty members, quality assurance practitioners, institutional leaders, and researchers to read the dissertation and to share it with colleagues. The work is intended to support informed discussion on how institutions and quality assurance bodies can align with widely referenced principles while maintaining transparency and organisational autonomy.
QAHE accreditation remains a voluntary quality assurance process and does not confer authority to award qualifications.
