Who owns education first

But he was surprised by how effortlessly he picked up English in England. Bertil became convinced that traditional classroom-based teaching was not always the most effective. In , he decided to start a small company called Europeiska Ferieskolan European Holiday School — EF for short that combined language learning with travel abroad.

Today, experiential learning is a cornerstone of modern education. For EF, it has been the philosophy behind every program for 50 years. Though hard to imagine today, traveling abroad to learn English was a radical concept in It took a university student with dyslexia to come up with it. The international team will compete around the world over race days, including at the iconic Tour de France.

Home Welcome to EF. Programs See everything we do. Offices Find an office near you. About EF Who we are. Careers Join the team. About EF. Order free brochure Book now. Overview Our company Our history Research. Our History.

How it all began In the early s, a young Swedish man named Bertil Hult traveled to England for the first time. New ideas: Social attitudes are changing, technology is taking a giant leap forward, and countries are beginning to look beyond their borders. In the same spirit of endless possibility, Bertil Hult and a small group of friends launch a new hands-on learning enterprise called Language Travel that will change the way people learn.

He opens a company called Europeiska Ferieskolan — soon shortened to EF — to escort Swedish high school students to the UK to learn English during their summer break. New markets: Government deregulation of air travel makes mass tourism possible on a scale never before imagined. Millions now yearn to see of the world, and speak the new global language — English. To meet the demand, EF opens in many new markets with new programs. The program name is later changed to EF Corporate Solutions.

High school exchange. New programs: The business-friendly climate of both the Reagan and Thatcher administrations helps many brands go global. Overview Our company Our history Research. Cultural Exchange. Our mission Opening the world through education. What we do. We transform dreams into international opportunities We combine language training with cultural exchange, academic achievement and educational travel to deliver courses and programs that transform dreams into international opportunities.

Learn a language The future belongs to those who speak multiple languages At home Abroad Online. Educational travel Turning the world into a classroom by experiencing its many wonders At home Abroad.

Academic study International careers await with a globally recognized degree At home Abroad. Founded in Lund, Sweden History. Offices and schools Headquarters: Lucerne, Switzerland. Employees 52, Across all continents careers. The demand is clearly there. EF Education First already has 77 schools in Indonesia and over in China and is having trouble meeting demand.

The second son of a Stockholm lawyer and a housewife who divorced when Hult was 6, he had trouble learning to read. At 16, he got his first after-school job, working as an errand boy at the Swedish bank SEB.

During a shopping trip to Budapest, Hult got the idea that would change his life. While dining at his hotel one night, he struck up a conversation with the woman seated next to him. She talked all night about her son, who had started a French-language education company that sent young Swedes to the French Riviera. Her son was so successful, the woman boasted, that he had been able to buy an Alfa Romeo sports car.

Thinking about his beat-up Fiat at home, Hult began concocting a similar plan. One organized ski vacations in the Alps and the other sent Swedish students to the U. It was education on a shoestring. Local teachers out to make an extra buck during the summer were relatively cheap, and the conversation-based learning took place in public spaces like churches and town halls.

Chartering mid-week flights was the biggest expense. The partners split the company.