The IEA DPC has existed in its present form since 1995. The fields of work in which the IEA DPC is currently active are varied, ranging from sampling to analysis of surveyed data.

Beginning in 1958 until the mid-1990s different study managers were appointed to the individual IEA studies. These were then responsible for developing the complete infrastructure for each study.

In 1995 IEA decided to centralise the work of data processing in order to be able to re-use and further expand knowledge gathered in the individual studies. This step was made necessary not only by the increasing number of IEA studies but also by the growing number of participating countries, which made the work of data processing more demanding. Because prior to this the study management for an IEA study (Reading Literacy) had already been located in Hamburg, the IEA Data Processing Center was set up in Hamburg as the data processing centre for all future IEA studies.

In 1998 the IEA DPC took on the work of preparing the field test for PISA 2000, its first foray into organising school performance studies in Germany. Since then this field of work has also expanded greatly, and by 2007 IEA DPC has been involved in organising approximately 30 large and smaller education studies in Germany. 

In 2007 the IEA DPC expanded its fields of work to include the Research and Analysis Unit. Since then it has been known as the IEA Data Processing and Research Center.