The issue of quality assurance in education was posed for the first time a few decades back. From that point in time until today, various definitions of this concept were offered, so this thesis seeks to find and create one integrated definition. Public quality assurance policy in the area of higher education is based on five basic structural elements, i.e. quality assurance by higher education institutions, quality assurance by agencies and competent bodies, European and national legislative frameworks, current standards and models that apply in order to harmonize quality system and the European and national context in which the provision of quality assurance in higher education should be located. This thesis also describes each of the elements mentioned above and tries to explain their unique characteristics. Another part of this thesis is the analysis of the quality assurance in higher education in the Republic of Croatia and the European Union. This part provides concrete data and indicators of the direction of the movement of this issue which makes it relevant and interesting for the area of education policy. Some of the interesting topics that this thesis covers are, for example, the social context of securing the quality assurance in higher education; stakeholders interested in participation in quality assurance process in higher education; the importance and role of the quality assurance in higher education system and its advantages; the purpose and mode of operation of national and international bodies responsible for the implementation of quality assurance process in higher education as well as recommendations for its development and improvement.