The birth of ICAATS in the 1950 as a totally non-formal project in India brought a turning point in the theological education scene in India first, and in and around the country soon after that.
Right from the time of its inception and nonformal activities, theological radicals were unhappy about the conservative stand of ICAATS. Many of them realized that a large international body of scholars will soon join it because it was started by missionaries, giving a diffucult time to the smaller accrediting agencies manned by theological radicsls.
History
ICAATS was born in the 1950s, almost a decade earlier than the accrediting system came into existance in the USA. Though it is only half a century of accreditation in the USA, the process has been subjected to so much propaganda that most people do not have any idea of what accreditation means.
Most people think that accreditation is some kind of a government mandate. Others think that accreditation is a compulsory process of colleges and universities. Both of these are wrong ideas. First, accreditation is a totally voluntary process and there is no government compulsion that an educational institution should be accredited.
Second, accreditation in USA is a totally private affair. It is done by private NGO’s and there is no government intervention. What is more, the separation of church and state has kept accreditation of religious organizations totally out of the hand of the American government.
India being a secular country, it also strictly follows church-state separation. ICAATS came into existance in the free India because some foreign missionaries were concerned about the quality of theological education when local leadership took control of theological institutions.
ICAATS was intitially a totally non formal kind of work. Launched initially by missionaries, Accredited distance education in theology received a boost with the arrival of ICAATS accredited institutions where quality withut compromise was available.
The International Council For Alternate And Theological Studies (ICAATS) is an Indian NGO, which had an informal beginning in 1947 and since then it has been involved as an NGO in informal encouragement of theological studies within India. What is more, several institutions outside India have also been guided and monitored by them for quality theological education.
Documents were submitted by ICAATS related people for Government Approval in 2003, and after the due course of examination such an approval was granted on 15th December according to the laws of the State and Central Government of India. The approval was given by the registering authority of the Central and state governments.
Through this approval, ICAATS has been permitted by the Government of India to play a deciding role in the development and accreditation of theological courses which do not come under the preview of University Grants Commission.
This approval by the Government of India is in accordance with the Constitution of India, which in the 29th and 30th Articles grants special rights to the Minority Groups in India. This includes the right of Christians to establish, run, and accredit courses devoted to Christian Theology.
ICAATS is also authorized to accredit theological studies outside India in keeping with the international character of the Christian community. [With thanks from the ICAATS website]
