Peer review or peer evaluation has always been and remains a key principle of educational quality assurance. Peer review ensures that people, who understand the higher education sector and who are able to make relevant judgements on and recommendations for improvement, are involved in the review of higher education. Over the last two decades external quality assurance agencies have been established in a large number of countries around the world and higher education has expanded and developed to meet the increasing needs of societies. This paper examines how peer review is defined in different educational contexts and how it may be expected to further evolve based on three examples.