Tunisia was called Ifriqiyah in the early centuries of the Islamic period and was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire, which lasted until 1922. Today Tunisia is the smallest of the 'Maghreb' states with Arabic as the official language, although French is widely spoken.

As an academic institution currently affiliated to the university of Tunis El Manar, its mission is to teach modern languages to a wide range of learners and to conduct applied research in methodologies for teaching modern languages to adults.