International Organisations

ICDE

The International Council for Open and Distance Education www.icde.org  is a global organization for flexible learning and teaching. An important aim of ICDE is to promote intercultural co-operation and understanding through flexible learning and teaching throughout the world. It organizes an annual conference and publishes an electronic Journal Open Praxis which is now only available for ICDE members.

UNESCO

The internationalization and globalization of higher education, in particular the rapid development of cross-border higher education have underlined an increasingly urgent need to establish robust frameworks for quality assurance and the recognition of qualifications. UNESCO actions in this area focus on providing information and capacity to empower higher education stakeholders for better-informed decision-making in the new world of higher education. 
 

In 2005 UNESCO and OECD jointly published Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-border Higher Education   

In 2006 UNESCO and APQN collaborated to publish a Toolkit: Regulating the Quality of Cross-Border Education. The Toolkit provides a useful resource for policy-makers and institutional leaders considering the provision or receipt of cross-border education and includes examples from different jurisdictions.

IAU

The (UNESCO-based) International Association of Universities (IAU) www.unesco.org/iau , the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) www.aucc.ca , the American Council on Education (ACE) www.acenet.edu, and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) www.chea.org , published Sharing Quality Higher Education Across Borders: A Statement on Behalf of Higher Education Institutions Worldwide www.unesco.org/iau/p_statements/index.html in 2005 after extensive consultation. The statement is addressed to two audiences: (1) higher education institutions and other providers and their non-governmental associations worldwide, and (2) national governments and their intergovernmental organizations. It outlines the principles that the signatories believe should anchor institutional initiatives in cross-border education as well as government policies and positions in trade negotiations. It also recommends specific actions that reinforce these principles.