BALEAP was founded in 1972. Initially, it was known as SELMOUS (The Group for ‘Special English Language Materials for Overseas University Students’). The name reflected the main priority at the time, which was to produce appropriate teaching materials. In 1989 the name was changed to BALEAP, in order to indicate the reduction in emphasis on materials and the increase in professionalism of member institutions on a broader front. This entails not only high standards of teaching on EAP courses, but also research, and adequate administrative and pastoral procedures. Membership is open to British university departments which provide courses in EAP for overseas students. The current membership is more than 60 British universities.

Members of BALEAP subscribe to a Code of Practice which sets standards for courses in EAP/study skills. Since 1991 BALEAP has operated an Accreditation Scheme whereby members' courses are visited by assessors. The Scheme is recognised by the British Council, which is represented on the Accreditation Scheme Committee (BASC). A full account of the Scheme is contained in an article by June O'Brien (EAP Course Evaluation and Quality Assurance) in Evaluation and Course Design in EAP, edited by M. Hewings and T. Dudley-Evans, Review of ELT, 6(1). Phoenix ELT, 1996. The Code of Practice is described by C. Weir and J. Roberts in Evaluation in ELT, Blackwell, 1994 (in Appendix 4.1, which lists the criteria for assessment, together with a checklist of the necessary documentation).