The ISTQB was officially founded as an International Testing Qualifications Board in Edinburgh in November 2002. Their purpose is to support a single, universally accepted, international qualification scheme for software and system testing professionals, by providing the core syllabi and by setting guidelines for the exams which are set by the regional/national boards. The ISTQB is responsible for the "ISTQB Certified Tester", which is an international qualification scheme and the qualifications in the scheme are based on a syllabus.

Although 2007 is the debut year for this certification in Malaysia, globally there are already more than 55,000 ISTQB certified testers who are currently practicing a common software testing framework and nomenclature. This framework also promotes consistent and good testing practice within all software engineering disciplines. ISTQB continuously works and updates the framework (through the certification syllabus), providing the advantage of first-hand industry knowledge and systematically propagating this knowledge globally through the national boards.

ISTQB is currently in the process of becoming compliant with the standard ISO 17024, which is a new standard that provides a benchmark for certification bodies offering certification of persons in any occupation and facilitates accreditation by national bodies. This is also part of ISQTB's ongoing effort to raise the profile support wider adoption of the ISTQB certification.