About BAC

BAC - British Accreditation Council

From its beginnings as a small group of concerned educationalists providing a quality mark following the withdrawal of the governments scheme, to an internationally recognised body whose assistance is sought by institutions and agencies across the globe, the British Accreditation Council (BAC) has come a long way.

BAC was formally established on 29 June 1984. The first college to be accredited was Kings School Oxford (then known as St Josephs Hall) which was inspected on 25 February 1985, and awarded accreditation following a meeting of the Accreditation and Recognition Committee (subsequently renamed the Accreditation Committee) on 18 April 1985.

At the end of BACs first year of operation a total of 35 institutions had been awarded accreditation, including tutorial colleges and institutions offering business and professional education and training at further and higher education levels. Over the next nine years the number of accredited institutions grew slowly, reaching 82 by the end of 1993. Sixth form and tutorial colleges continued to form the bulk of these. However, there had been a significant increase in accredited institutions offering business and professional studies and higher education courses, along with colleges catering for students with special educational needs.

From 1993 to 2005 the number of institutions accredited by BAC grew from 82 to 200. The biggest increases came in the years 2003-2005, when accreditation activity reached then unprecedented levels. Most of the new institutions were colleges offering courses in business studies and computer studies, primarily for the benefit of overseas students.

Since 2001, BAC accreditation has been recognised by UK governments as an indicator of the bona fides of a further and/or higher education institution and, as a result, BAC saw the number of accredited providers increase to over 500 institutions. Continued changes to the immigration systems permitting overseas students to study in the UK and fledgling changes to the funding of higher education paraded in the 2011 White Paper lead the private further and higher education sector into a period of challenge and significant opportunity, and throughout this BAC continues to operate the most relevant and trusted accreditation scheme for the sector.