About Us

We’re an educational association and a nationally recognized accrediting agency!

The Distance Education and Training Council is a non-profit [501 c 6] educational association located in Washington, D.C.

The Council was founded in 1926 to promote sound educational standards and ethical business practices within the correspondence field. The independent nine-member Accrediting Commission of the DETC was established in 1955; shortly thereafter it gained the approval of the U.S. Department of Education as the "nationally recognized accrediting agency" under terms of Public Law. The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) also recognizes the Accrediting Commission.

With its 80-plus years of history and its highly refined and federally recognized accreditation program, DETC offers distance learning institutions the most current, relevant and practical services for the 21st Century.

Mission Statement

The mission of the Council is to promote, by means of standard-setting, evaluation, and consultation processes, the development and maintenance of high educational and ethical standards in education and training programs delivered through distance learning. The Council establishes and operates an educational accrediting association, the DETC Accrediting Commission. The Council elects representatives from its membership to this Commission. The DETC Accrediting Commission receives applications from distance education and training institutions and accredits them if they have attained and maintained the standards deemed necessary to operate at a basic level of quality. The Commission also fosters institutional self-improvement. Its goal is to be the premier accreditor of distance education and training institutions and programs worldwide.

DETC Special Interest Web Sites

DETC maintains two special interest Web sites for its corporate and military audiences.

DETC's Corporate Web Site focuses on corporate learning, including FAQs, Graduates' Stories and a Corporate Spotlight highlighting DETC-friendly corporations. The Corporate Web site is aimed at employers and human resource officers, students seeking tuition assistance and DETC institutions working to forge corporate partnerships.

DETC's Military Web Site focuses on the military community, including military-based FAQs, Graduates' Stories and two brochures for DETC institutions to use to reach out to the military community.

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