The exponential expansion of higher education enrolments throughout sub-Saharan Africa has led to the establishment of many new public and private universities offering face-to-face, blended and DE programmes. There is a growing need for QA frameworks at the national and institutional level. The chapter argues that there is still a great deal of work to be done, as there are significant variations in policies and procedures for QA and little has yet been done in regard to monitoring and assessing the quality of DE provision. Most of the work at national and at regional levels is concerned with QA in university-level DE, unsurprisingly because this is where the growth in DE and enrolment in cross-border programmes have been greatest. As interest grows in the use of DE in other sectors, the focus may need to broaden, particularly in regard to open schooling systems which are increasingly required in countries where entry into mainstream secondary schooling is constrained. It highlights the opportunities for regional organizations to engage in such work, strengthen existing regional QA bodies and initiatives, become models for good practice and draw on their expertise and experience to help other countries and regions in Africa to establish similar systems.
