ABSTRACT
Increased coverage and institutional diversity have led most countries to set up mechanisms to assess and to provide public assurance about the quality of higher education. In Latin America, this process started at the beginning of the 1990s; by the end of the decade, Mexico, Costa Rica, Argentina, Colombia and Chile had well-consolidated quality assurance processes in place. Other countries, notably those adhering to the MERCOSUR (or Common Market of the South) free trade agreement, were involved in a regional quality assurance mechanism which not only set up common standards for specific programmes but also ensured that quality assurance agencies operating in the region followed specific guidelines. In 2003, quality assurance agencies in Latin America joined forces with Spain and established RIACES, the Ibero-American network for quality improvement in the region.
