This booklet aims to provide policy advice and support to decision-makers and managers in the area of quality assurance in higher education. In order to do so, the authors describe and discuss major issues that decision-makers in charge of quality assurance need to consider for the creation or development of an external quality assurance (EQA) mechanism. Under each issue, different options are identified that have been derived from a comparative analysis of quality assurance systems in a multitude of countries across continents. The implementation of such options in a given national context is illustrated through examples of various countries' experiences. The authors begin by presenting the international trends that drive countries to adopt an EQA system. They then go on to discuss the overall purposes of an EQA system and how they relate to basic organizational and methodological approaches. The authors also discuss variations in the definition of higher education quality and how it can be measured. Finally, the issue of the support structure for EQA is tackled in terms of administrative affiliation, management and needed resources. The authors conclude by exploring ways to control the quality of the EQA systems themselves. A list of web resources is also provided. (Contains 4 tables, 23 boxes, and 1 footnote.)