The rapid expansion and privatization of the higher education sector in Bahrain led to a growing need to ensure the quality and relevance of the education on offer. This was addressed by developing a national quality assurance system, followed by a national qualifications framework. These, in turn, facilitated the development of internal quality assurance (IQA) within the institutions. The University of Bahrain (UoB) – the country’s only national higher education institution (HEI) – established a well-coordinated, yet decentralized structure for IQA, which aims to make quality assurance an integral part of the university’s functioning. Conducted within the framework of an international research project implemented by the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), this case study focuses on how the IQA system at UoB was developed from external quality assurance mechanisms, and how the system has impacted the quality of education and the employability of graduates.