The Committee was established to perform expert review and assist distribution of the best training materials in political science, sociology and economics developed in Russian higher education and academic centers under the Education Innovation Project of the National Training Foundation (NTF) and the Chairs Support Program of the Open Society Institute (OSI).

ICTMC activity should result, among other things, in methodology recommendations concerning extensive use of materials submitted for certification. Those recommendations should take into account the specificities of each particular training material as well as the specificities of its target audience.

The first meeting of the ICTMC Board (which is the supreme collegial body managing the certification process) took place on March 3, 2003. The Board discussed the ICTMC By-laws and structure, the composition of expert groups, and the future role of ICTMC in raising the quality of tutorial materials available to Russian higher education institutions.

On March 13, an NTF seminar on «Improvements in University-Level Social Sciences and Economics Teaching» was held to introduce training course designers to ITMCC's structure and plan of activities.

In April the ISE-Center received the first few works out of 300-plus items that will be subject to ICTMC certification at the request of NTF and OSI.

Board of the Independent Training Materials Certification Committee (ICTMC)