It is the ministère des Relations internationales du Québec (Quebec`s ministry of international relations) that took the initiative to encourage provincial college and university French-language schools to join together to form an association, which would receive ministry accreditation and which would promote the French language as well as Quebec culture.

Thus, in 1980, the Association québecoise des écoles de français (AQEF) (the Quebec association of French-language schools) came into being. In 2010, the association underwent a name change and became the Association québécoise des écoles de français langue étrangère (AQEFLE), the Quebec association of schools of French as a foreign language) to better reflect the professional mission of the member schools of the association.

It is noteworthy that all AQEFLE schools are also accredited by the ministère de l`Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport du Québec (Quebec`s ministry of education, recreation and sports) to offer French instruction to Canadians who benefit from the Explore bursary program. As well, the schools are recognized by the Council of the Ministry of Education in Canada to receive Explore students.