ICETE was founded as an answer to the urgent need for evangelical theological
institutions around the world to find a way to jointly serve Christian churches
at the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s. It was exactly at
this time that regional accrediting agencies were formed on various continents.
ICETE was founded in March 1980 at a meeting of representatives of these accrediting
associations in the town of Hoddleston (England) and under the direction of
the Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Fellowship. It's original
name was—ICAA.
By the end of the 1990s there were seven member regional accrediting agencies,
including: