In the early eighties, the Public Relations Officers from South African Universities (PROSAU) was established as a functioning body to serve the needs of members in the university sector, followed by the Public Relations Officers from South African Technikons (PROTECH) in 1987, functioning completely separately. In 1989, these two bodies came together to merge as the Association for Marketing, Communication and Development Professionals in Higher Education (UNITECH).
In 2005, the FET colleges (now known as TVET colleges) were incorporated into UNITECH and were allowed to join as affiliate members. Three years later, in 2008, UNITECH was renamed Marketing, Advancement and Communication in Education (MACE) after a number of workshops to determine the transformation agenda as well as the way forward. FET colleges were given full membership, and for the first time an FET college (Boland) hosted a conference.
Since 2008, MACE has grown in leap and bounds, now drawing an average of 190 delegates to its Annual National Conference.
In 2019, MACE celebrated its 30th anniversary.