INTRODUCTION:The global changing landscape in higher education has resulted in the expansion of higher education from elite to mass to universal systems, new trends in teaching and learning, growth of alternative systems of education, changes in the market place and new demands and needs of society. Quality education is a dream of any economy as its socio-economic, technological, political and cultural development highly depends on the type of skilled manpower available. Assuring quality is a continuous and cyclic process which is dependent on the changing needs of the society/economy. Quality assurance in totality has challenges which can be addressed through action research for the institutions to get solutions to these challenges. Action research process is collaborative where people work together in a democratic process to effect change in an organization. Being a cyclic process the issues can be solved through collaboration and reflection by key players and other stakeholders.QUALITY ASSURANCE IN A NUT SHELL:The concept of quality assurance has emerged as a primary instrument for evaluating performance and accountability in higher education as observes Kistan (1999). In any learning institution, quality is measured in terms of the input-process-output variables in teaching - learning, research, and creative work that foster as intellectual culture that bridge theory and practice producing holistic graduants for the demanding labor market. Kistan (1999) looks at quality assurance at policy level as power and control and measured in terms of accountability while at institutional level, as students' experiences and achievements.Given the nature of higher learning institutions in terms of fragmentation and diversity in resource allocation, the standards may not be compared between the institutions. These calls for every institution to be open minded, look at their peculiar challenges from all perspectives understand them and undertake corrective measures without playing a blame game. South African Universities' Vice Chancellors Association initiated a quality assurance audit program with the following objectives; assist universities in establishing internal quality assurance systems by means of self-evaluation, undertake external quality audits for improvement and accountability purpose and prepare the system for future program assessment for accreditation purpose, Quality Promotion Unit (1997). This initiative has seen the quality of higher education in South Africa improve. Many institutions of higher learning have looked at quality assurance as a form of self-evaluation and peer review mainly through moderation of examinations by external examiners and periodical departmental reviews. However there is lack of a systematic quality assurance system. In India, Chile, the United Kingdom and Netherlands quality assurance has contributed to the transformation of higher education sector causing major paradigm shiftfrom a protected system to an exposed system Kistan ( 1999).Action research is used by education practitioners to crystalize the major objectives of quality assurance in higher education of acceptability by both the state and the stakeholders. In assuring quality in higher education, a number of challenges are faced which can be established through action research. The nature of the problem is determined and solutions to the problems established. Legal education institutions face myriad of problems in curriculum management, resource development and management, learners' satisfaction, staffing and research and development. There is high demand for legal education and training and the quest for quality education at the same time. With the rising challenges in offering legal education and training, there is need for a paradigm shiftfrom the traditional ways of winning institutions. The needs of the society are changing every day from central governance to devolution at the County government, from agricultural economy to oil/mineral mining in Turkana, from local justice systems to international systems (The Hague) and from scientific emphasis to technological and innovative approaches like distance learning and use of IT in curriculum implementation and from analogue to digital. …