Guidelines being drafted to ensure quality in higher education worldwide might help protect Japanese students from shady, "rogue" schools.

As cross-border education gathers steam amid economic globalization and growing use of English and the Internet, government officials and experts have stepped up calls for an international framework on quality assurance and accreditation for post-secondary schools.

Bernard Hugonnier, an education expert at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development who is involved in drafting the guidelines, said such a framework will benefit Asian economies because Asia tops the list of regions sending tertiary-level students abroad.