• The school was originally initiated in 2008 by the European Commission Joint Research Centre in view of the importance of quality assured data in the context of EU enlargement, globalisation, international trade and many other policy areas. In fact, before that starting date, a group of university lecturers from across the EU met up in Rogaška Slatina (Slovenia) in 2005 for a teacher summer school. Some of these teachers who met there decided to join forces and created  the first school in July 2008 in Celje (Slovenia).

    In 2015 financing by the JRC stopped but teachers decided to continue the school as a not-for-profit international activity.  So far, over 600 people from from 56 different countries and 4 different continents have participated.

    The teachers have changed over the years, but all of them have a keen interest in teaching about quality assurance in a testing laboratory, especially in the field of analytical chemistry. Some of them are also acting as assessors in the context of ISO/IEC 17025.

    In 2026 it will be the 19th edition.