International Standard Classification of Education which was initially designed by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) in the early 1970s to serve as an instrument suitable for assembling, compiling and presenting statistics of education both within countries and internationally.

International Standard Classification of Educación

The International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) was designed by UNESCO in the early 1970s to serve ‘as an instrument suitable for assembling, compiling and presenting statistics of education both within individual countries and internationally’. It was approved by the International Conference on Education (Geneva, 1975), and was subsequently endorsed by UNESCO’s General Conference.

http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2002/notes/n07.asp