Quality assurance for virtual education is the subject of this paper. The paper is divided into six sections and begins by illustrating the context in which virtual education is being used, drawing on the findings of recent research into the related territory of ‘borderless education’. The quality assurance issues that are of concern at national and institutional levels are highlighted in the second section. The third section illustrates some of the ways in which virtual education raises specific issues of quality and quality assurance, before discussing the particular quality assurance needs of different groups of stakeholders in the fourth section. The fifth part examines different models of quality assurance and compares strategies adopted in higher education and in commercial sectors. The last section describes a number of quality assurance initiatives in different parts of the world and then grounds these by drawing on some practical lessons learned in the course of delivering virtual education programmes.