Jump to content

EF Education

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Aclausen (talk | contribs) at 18:46, 2 March 2009 (Updated the page to reflect changes in metrics (number of subsidaries, countries, etc.) as well as add to the history section). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

EF Education First is an organisation of language schools that was founded 1965 in Sweden by Bertil Hult. It consists of 15 separate subsidiaries focused on language travel, educational travel, cultural exchange, au pair and academic studies. EF has over 29,000 employees, teachers and volunteers, with offices and schools in 54 countries. Bertil Hult retired to be chairman of the board and Louise Julian is now CEO. EF's stated mission is to break down barriers of language, culture and geography.

History

EF was founded in 1965 when Bertil Hult took a small group of Swedish students to the United Kingdom to study English during the summer. During the 1970's it opened offices in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan and Mexico. In 1985 EF welcomed it's 1,000,000th student. Today, EF is the world's largest private education company, with a group of 15 subsidiaries and nonprofit organizations centered around language learning, educational travel, cultural exchange and academic programs. EF is still privately held.


See also