The TEI of Crete was established in 1983 aiming at offering technological education to students in Greece. Initially the following Schools were established:
- Technological Applications, located in Heraklion with a branch in Chania
- Management and Economics, located in Heraklion
- Health and Welfare Services, located in Heraklion and
- Agricultural Technology, located in Heraklion,
which offered twelve (12) Study Programmes, supported till 2013 by the Department of Sciences of the School of Technological Applications and the Centre of Foreign Languages and Physical Education.
Since June 2013, according to the Presidential Decree No 104 (Official Government Gazette 137, 5-7-2013, volume 1) under the new Law 4009/2011 (Official Government Gazette 195, 6-9-2011, volume 1), the TEI of Crete has the following Schools:
- School of Management and Economics, located in Heraklion
- School of Health and Welfare Services, located in Heraklion
- School of Applied Sciences, located in Chania
- School of Agricultural and Food Technology, located in Sitia
- School of Technological Applications, located in Heraklion
