Decolonising quality: rethinking internationalisation and QA in global higher education

Purpose This paper aims to critically examine how internationalisation and international quality assurance (QA) frameworks function as governance mechanisms that shape definitions of educational quality, legitimacy and excellence in global higher education, with significant implications for epistemic authority across contexts. Design/methodology/approach Using a conceptual and critical approach informed by postcolonial theory, neoliberal governance perspectives and epistemic justice, this study analyses how QA and internationalisation institutionalise particular standards and forms of knowledge within global higher education systems. Findings The analysis shows that QA frameworks operate less as neutral improvement tools and more as mechanisms of epistemic and economic governance. Through soft coercion, they privilege dominant languages, knowledge forms and evaluation models while marginalising locally grounded epistemologies, particularly in the Global South. As a result, quality becomes increasingly aligned with market-oriented standardisation and commodification rather than pedagogical substance. Research limitations/implications This study is conceptual and interpretive rather than empirical. Future research should explore how decolonial QA principles can be operationalised in diverse higher education contexts. Practical implications This paper proposes alternatives for decolonising QA including participatory evaluation processes recognition of epistemic and linguistic plurality and accountability models that resist the commercialisation of QA. Originality/value This paper integrates postcolonial and epistemic justice perspectives to reconceptualise QA as an ethical and political practice. It links governance mechanisms to epistemic outcomes and outlines directions for developing participatory, context-sensitive and epistemically plural QA approaches.