higher education founded 1999 founder douglas l. becker headquarters baltimore md u.s. area served north america latin america europe asia pacific middle east and north africa number of employees 50 000 website www.laureate.net laureate international universities are the for profit universities and colleges owned and operated by laureate education of baltimore maryland in the united states . by 2015 the company owned and operated more than 200 campuses both campus based and online in 29 countries with total student enrollment of more than 1 million students 1 contents 1 corporate history 2 relationship with bill clinton 3 programs 4 operations 5 visits by world and business leaders 6 references 7 external links corporate history edit see also list of laureate education institutions the company laureate education was founded by douglas l. becker . the company was originally created by sylvan learning systems in 1998 as an operational division to focus on post secondary institutions and called sylvan international universities . when the division was created sylvan was a public company primarily focused on educational services for students in primary and secondary education through company owned and franchise locations . 2 the company s first investment was spain s universidad europea de madrid in 1999 quickly followed by investments in post secondary institutions in mexico s universidad tecnol gica de m xico unitec universidad del valle de m xico chile s universidad de las am ricas and switzerland s les roches international school of hotel management and its first investment in online higher education walden university in the united states . 3 the universidad europea de madrid purchase was for 51 million . 4 in 2000 les roches international school of hotel management in switzerland universidad de las am ricas in chile and universidad del valle de m xico were acquired . 5 in march 2003 sylvan learning systems decided to focus exclusively on post secondary education . 6 the company sold the k 12 business units as well as the sylvan name and trademark to a new company educate inc. formed by apollo management . in 2004 sylvan changed its name to laureate education inc to reflect the change in focus . 7 in 2007 the company was acquired by an investor group led by douglas becker and citigroup private equity . 8 9 between 2007 and 2015 laureate made 41 acquisitions with a total purchase price of about 2.0 billion . 10 according to laureate a key to the company s growth was its expansion into brazil where laureate owned 13 institutions with a total enrollment of about 281 000 students . 11 by 2010 the company owned more than 50 institutions both campus based and online in 21 countries with a total enrollment of about 550 000 students . 12 in 2010 former u.s. president bill clinton became the honorary chancellor of the network for an undisclosed compensation . 13 in january 2013 the international finance corporation a member of the world bank group made a 150 million equity investment in laureate to expand access to quality higher education in emerging markets . 14 15 in 2013 laureate also bought brazilian for profit university chain fmu for 412 million . the chain was bought in anticipation of a growing middle class in brazil . 16 coursera a provider of massive online open courses announced in july 2013 that it raised 43 million in investments from a group that included laureate education inc. the world bank s investment arm learncapital venture partners gsv capital and venture capitalist yuri milner . 17 arizona based thunderbird school of global management announced a partnership with laureate in march 2013 to set up a joint venture that would provide capital support to thunderbird to open multiple international instruction sites and expand its executive education and online programs . 18 four thunderbird board members resigned in protest . 19 in december 2013 laureate announced that its shareholders elected three independent directors robert b. zoellick former world bank president ; 20 judith rodin president of the rockefeller foundation ; 21 and george mu oz principal of the mu oz investment banking group . 22 in 2015 laureate filed an initial public offering which has filed to materialize . 23 the ipo stated that laureate had grown to more than 1 million students and 200 campuses in 28 countries and the ipo was in part a response to a global demand for more higher education among a rapidly growing middle class . 24 in 2016 laureate sold its two glion institute of higher education campuses four campuses of les roches international school of hotel management 25 and five liuf schools . 26 the total value of the glion and les roches to eurazeo was chf 380 million . 27 relationship with bill clinton edit though former united states president bill clinton s role as a chancellor of laureate was officially described as honorary from 2010 until early 2015 bill clinton was paid just short of 16.5 million for his role as honorary chancellor including 2.5 million in 2011 when hillary clinton was still secretary of state . these numbers were disclosed in his publicly released tax returns . 28 29 30 in april 2015 clinton ended his ties with laureate amidst ongoing financial problems at four of its six u.s. based universities . 31 32 clinton appeared at the laureate summit on youth & jobs at universidad europea de madrid in 2013 33 universidad peruana de ciencias aplicadas in 2013 34 universit internationale de casablanca in 2013 35 european university cyprus in 2012 36 universidad del valle de m xico in 2012 37 walden university s 2011 commencement ceremony 38 istanbul bilgi university in 2010 39 and inti international university in 2010 . 40 programs edit universities in the group teach various subjects at both undergraduate and graduate level . subjects covered by some of its colleges include design 41 business 42 culinary and hospitality . 43 operations edit according to the washington post laureate is backed by several of the biggest names in finance including henry kravis george soros steve cohen and paul allen . 44 laureate s annual revenue is approximately 4 billion . 44 the company holds 3.5 billion 45 to 4.7 billion in debt . 9 moody s rated laureate s corporate bonds as high risk and characterized laureate has highly leveraged . 46 laureate spends in excess of 200 million per year on advertising including television commercials online campaigns and billboards . there have been claims that laureate boosts revenue at struggling colleges by turbocharging enrollment often without a parallel increase in academic investment . 44 the sylvan laureate foundation was created in 1997 as a non profit foundation to provide education training and community support . 47 students from many of the network institutions have participated in the clinton global initiative university including students from universidade anhembi morumbi universidade potiguar inti international college inti international university universidad del valle de m xico universidad peruana de ciencias aplicadas universidad europea de madrid istanbul bilgi university stamford international university walden university universit internationale de casablanca national hispanic university and universidade salvador . 48 49 laureate has schools in turkey and chile even though for profit schools are banned . 44 in brazil the rio state legislature s investigative commission on private universities issued a report criticizing for profit colleges like laureate for firing professors . 44 visits by world and business leaders edit many global business and government leaders have held speeches at laureate international university network institutions . condoleezza rice addressed students from the university of petroleum & energy studies and pearl academy in india in december 2013 50 lvaro uribe universidad andr s bello 2006 unitec honduras 2010 51 and udla ecuador 2013 52 demetris christofias european university cyprus 2011 53 jos mar a aznar universidad andr s bello 2006 and 2010 universidad de las am ricas 2011 54 jos miguel insulza universidad vi a del mar 2011 55 lech wa sa campus symposium at bits 2008 and universidad europea de madrid 2011 56 mario vargas llosa universidad europea de madrid 2006 and universidad andr s bello 2012 57 recep tayyip erdogan universidad europea de madrid 2010 58 tony blair key note speech at bits campus symposium 2009 anhembi morumbi university 2010 universidad europea de madrid 2011 59 centro universit rio ritter dos reis uniritter 60 and campus eiffel ecole centrale d electronique paris ece paris henry cisneros delivered national hispanic university s 28th commencement address and was honored with a doctor of humane letters honoris causa 2013 61 references edit https www.sec.gov archives edgar data 912766 000104746916013340 a2227130zs 1a.htm honan william h. 20 january 1999 . sylvan plans overseas college network . the new york times . http findarticles.com p articles mi m0ein is 2000 dec 7 ai 67687292 . missing or empty title help sylvan signs deal for part of spanish university . baltimore sun . 1999 04 09 . retrieved 2014 03 07 . sylvan learning systems inc 10 k annual report . getfilings.com . 2000 12 31 . retrieved 2014 03 07 . walsh mark 19 march 2003 . sylvan learning changing focus sells k 12 sector . education week . retrieved 22 october 2013 . sylvan learning renamed . new york times . 18 may 2004 . retrieved 22 october 2013 . management group to take laureate education private . the new york times . 29 january 2007 . a b laureate education files ipo with 4.7 billion debt . retrieved 2016 09 27 . https www.sec.gov archives edgar data 912766 000104746916013340 a2227130zs 1a.htm https www.sec.gov archives edgar data 912766 000104746916013340 a2227130zs 1a.htm gus g. sentementes 2010 04 26 . laureate education lures clinton as honorary chancellor . the baltimore sun . retrieved 2014 03 07 . laureate education lures clinton as honorary chancellor . the baltimore sun . 2010 04 26 . retrieved 2014 03 07 . redden elizabeth 2014 03 03 . world bank affiliate invests 150 million in for profit college provider . inside higher ed . retrieved 2014 03 07 . kilar steve 2013 01 23 . world bank invests in baltimore based laureate education . baltimore sun . retrieved 2014 03 07 . http careercollegecentral.com news laureate education acquires brazils fmu 412 million melissa korn 2013 07 10 . online education startup coursera raises 43 million digits . blogs.wsj.com . retrieved 2014 03 07 . bradshaw della 2013 03 18 . thunderbird ties knot with commercial education partner . financial times . issn 0307 1766 . retrieved 2016 09 27 . http www.azcentral.com story money business 2014 07 09 thunderbird school community split laureate education 12418955 robert b. zoellick harvard belfer center for science and international affairs . judith rodin the rockefeller foundation . mar george mu oz insider trades for marriott international inc. . http www.baltimoresun.com news maryland bs md laureate faces challenges 20161008 story.html https www.sec.gov archives edgar data 912766 000104746916013340 a2227130zs 1a.htm http www.laureate.net newsroom pressreleases 2016 03 agreement between laureate education inc and eurazeo http www.laureate.net newsroom pressreleases 2016 04 agreement between laureate education and apax partners http www.laureate.net newsroom pressreleases 2016 03 agreement between laureate education inc and eurazeo hillary and bill clinton made 139 million in eight years . bloomberg.com politics . 2015 07 31 . retrieved 2016 09 27 . clinton discloses millions in book royalties speaking fees . 2016 05 18 . retrieved 2016 09 27 . hillary s for profit education . wall street journal . 2015 09 14 . issn 0099 9660 . retrieved 2016 09 27 . haberman maggie 2015 04 24 . bill clinton ends role with chain of for profit colleges . the new york times . he left the post last april weeks after hillary clinton announced her second presidential campaign . abc madrid 2013 05 21 . bill clinton visita hoy al rey y coincide con el pr ncipe en un foro bill clinton today visit coincides with the king and prince in a forum